Dan Shaughnessy: Taking a dump in your mouth one column at a time

Muddy Chicken

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"Gonzalez is one sour dude. Almost Nomar-esque. Nobody likes a know-it-all."

I love how he tosses this out as a one liner. Nothing to back it up. Nothing. Okay, thanks Dan.
 

joyofsox

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I also noticed something Gonzalez-related at the top of BDD: "A-Gon Loves the paycheck. Boston? Not so much."

Did he say something even mildly controversial that I missed?
 

ifmanis5

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"Gonzalez is one sour dude. Almost Nomar-esque. Nobody likes a know-it-all."

I love how he tosses this out as a one liner. Nothing to back it up. Nothing. Okay, thanks Dan.
I was thinking of this one-liner when I heard Matthew Berry on Simmons' podcast rhapsodize about what a great guy Gonzalez was and how some guys just 'get it' and Albert is one of those guys. I think Dan must own a pair of poop-colored glasses, maybe that's how he sees the world.
 

Pumpsie

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Wowza! A-Gone was injured all last year and couldn't swing through the ball but now he's 100%? Should be a lot of baseballs flying around Fenway this year, and most of them by the good guys.
 

weeba

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This I agree with

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2012/05/17/dan-shaughnessy-picked-pieces/EPQEJDBWzOwpEm4gAHetMM/story.html

There are parts of Rhode Island where failing to make good on million-dollar loan payments gets you more than a bloody sock. Red Sox adviser Jeremy Kapstein was out front on the 38 Studios loan scam two years ago when he ran for Rhode Island Lieutenant Governor and told WPRO-AM, “I have serious questions about the viability of that kind of offer to a company that is full of questions.’’

Kapstein was not alone. Massachusetts officials scoffed at the notion of loaning Curt Schilling’s company $75 million. The following appeared in this space in July 2010: “Hats off to the ship of fools known as the Rhode Island Economic Development Corp. The RIEDC yesterday pledged a $75 million loan guarantee to lure Curt Schilling’s game company (the one with no games) to the Ocean State. It’s the best demonstration of sports sycophants gone wild with public money since the yahoos in Connecticut promised to give Bob Kraft the world to move his team to Yo Adriaen’s Landing in Hartford.’’

RIEDC director Keith Stokes resigned yesterday.

No thinking person wants to see a company fail. There are hundreds of jobs at stake. But it’s hard to believe that Schilling, who earned $114 million during his baseball career, can’t make a $1.1 million loan payment.

Schilling is the man who railed about government spending, then had his hand out for corporate welfare, and now asks for more help from the confederacy of dunces in Rhode Island. This is not the Rhode Island Enron, and Schill is not Jeffrey Skilling, but it is bad, and it was avoidable if not for public officials losing all common sense in the aura of a baseball player who delivered on a promise to bring us a championship.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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Shank is leaving out the little fact that he attacked the deal not because he thought it was bad business sense but rather because of his antipathy towards Schilling, unless Dan is up on the latest gaming trends, news, and companies. And now Shank is patting himself on the back for "calling it" a couple of years ago?

Yeah, I'll pass on reading a self-congratulatory column from a smarmy douchebag. We've got much better discussion of the 38 Studios mess right here in V&N.
 

Freddy Linn

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Where it rains. No, seriously.
But it’s hard to believe that Schilling, who earned $114 million during his baseball career, can’t make a $1.1 million loan payment.
It's pretty disingenuous to say this given that (a) he has reportedly sunk $30 million into the venture, and (b) using someone's gross earnings is wildly misleading.
 

weeba

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It's pretty disingenuous to say this given that (a) he has reportedly sunk $30 million into the venture, and (b) using someone's gross earnings is wildly misleading.
Deadspin had him only putting $4m into the studio; which he was paid back already for with the RI loan

http://deadspin.com/5910569/curt-schillings-video-game-company-might-cost-taxpayers-112-million

Update: Missed this the first time around, but worth noting. Last year Schilling told Reuters that he had invested "$30 million to $35 million" in 38 Studios. A disclosure filing obtained by WPRI shows that Schilling advanced the company $4 million of his own money, and has already been paid back—with funds from the Rhode Island loan.
 

JimD

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Not being tempted to click on Shank's stories is the best feature of the Globe's paywall.
 

jose melendez

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Give credit where it's due. "There are parts of Rhode Island where failing to make good on million-dollar loan payments gets you more than a bloody sock." is a great line.
 

weeba

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Long interview with Theo

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2012/06/14/q__a_with_theo_epstein_on_red_sox_and_cubs/?page=full
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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I thought that was a very good interview. Epstein was candid and Shaughnessy asked the questions and took a step back.
 

wutang112878

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As much as I like to bash CHB, this article was pretty good. He asked some tough questions, wasnt a jerk, and we got some insightful answers.
 

Humphrey

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He even refrained from using the "greatest team ever" throwaway when referring to last year's team. Nice to know he can still on occasion not be an insufferable prick.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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Do we know it was actually CHB asking the questions? Because there's nothing in the article indicating such ("Theo sat down with the Globe....")

The questions are so unlike him I wouldn't be shocked if they just had some lackey ask the questions and had Danno write it up.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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Do we know it was actually CHB asking the questions? Because there's nothing in the article indicating such ("Theo sat down with the Globe....")

The questions are so unlike him I wouldn't be shocked if they just had some lackey ask the questions and had Danno write it up.
Come on, you know that didn't happen. Especially since Shaughnessy said where they met and described the hat that Epstein was wearing when they both sat down.
 

Humphrey

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Between him and Cafardo, was feeling like I had a 10-beers-in-a-smoky-barroom hangover after having one beer (and go no where near smoke any more) last night.
 

Rocco Graziosa

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Hole E Shit, you have to PAY to read the globe online now? Jesus I don't think I'll ever go back to that site. It was hardly worth it when free.

They going down, and they're going to go down hard.
 

martybarrettoverdrive

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Small item of note from a Politico afternoon tip sheet:


PI SCOOP ... TSONGAS CAMPAIGN REPORTS BOSTON GLOBE COLUMNIST DAN SHAUGHNESSY MADE DONATION HE DIDN'T: Deep within the campaign finance filings of Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Mass.) is a: $250 contribution last year from Boston Globe sports columnist Dan Shaughnessy. At face value, the contribution would appear to violate the Globe's newsroom ethics policy (http://b.globe.com/O2vaim), which plainly states: "Staff members may not themselves give money to any political candidate or election cause or raise money for one" and " journalists do not take part in politics."
Boston Globe editor Marty Baron tells PI that the Tsongas campaign "improperly listed" the contribution as coming from Shaughnessy. "I've spoken to Dan and his wife, Marilou. The check was written by Marilou on her own behalf. It was written on a joint checking account ... Dan did not make the donation," Baron wrote in an email. As proof, Baron included a copy of the contribution check (http://bit.ly/MomDWS), which lists both husband and wife at its top but is signed by Marilou Shaughnessy.
Told about the contribution, the Tsongas campaign checked its books, and Deputy Campaign Manager Jesse Bragg acknowledged: "It was definitely an administrative error on our side that we will amend as soon as possible."
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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Aside from his shot at James, I don't see what was wrong with today's column at all. Thought it summed up the frustration and the clusterfuckness of this organization pretty well.
 

ForKeeps

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Well, aside from advocating that Bobby V ignore the medical staff and lineup/strategic related information from baseball ops, sure, great column!
 

Nuf Ced

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Bobby Valentine video bombed CHB on CSNE tonight.

http://www.csnne.com/baseball-boston-redsox/redsox-talk/Bobby-V-Im-not-trying-to-get-fired-folks?blockID=749279&feedID=10602
 

TheoShmeo

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Late Tuesday afternoon, as I stood near the dugout with a Comcast microphone in my hand, Bobby came up from behind me, looked over my left shoulder into the camera and exclaimed, “It’s not true! I’m not trying to get fired, folks. It’s not true, it’s not true! It was all made up by him! It’s not true.’’

It was TV gold. John McNamara hated me more than Vicente Padilla hates Mark Teixeira and he never did anything like that.
"Look at me! I am the story! Me!!"

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2012/08/01/boos-rain-down-injured-beckett/P9Uzq2aACL6vc0LVmgktoL/story.html

Oh, and I don't think Beckett is hated more than LeBron but what do I know...I wouldn't have booed Beckett last night.
 

Average Reds

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Bobby the fifth may be a complete ass, but what he did there was harmless and funny. And Shaughnessy seemed to understand this at the time, because his reaction on camera was fine.

For Shaughnessy to write that Valentine's level of hatred for him must be off the charts - especially when we can see for ourselves what Valentine did - just demonstrates how completely Shank has lost himself as he wallows in his own narcissism.
 

Granite Sox

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Shank's "informed guess" (via Lucky) is that Gonzo's the rat:

Now everybody’s trying to guess who ratted out Bobby to the bosses. A lot of us have candidates. I’m going with the aforementioned Gonzalez as my top suspect. Call it unfair. Or call it an informed guess. I e-mailed John Henry and asked him. No response. What a surprise.
Behind the paywall: http://www.bostonglo...Eq2N/story.html
 

Humphrey

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Where was it reported that the Sox could have unloaded Gonzo (and his contract, I would assume) to LA for a boatload of prospects?

Other than a salary dump, why would they do that anyway?

It's not like they still have Rizzo waiting in the wings or have Youk to move back there.
 

StuckOnYouk

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Where was it reported that the Sox could have unloaded Gonzo (and his contract, I would assume) to LA for a boatload of prospects?

Other than a salary dump, why would they do that anyway?

It's not like they still have Rizzo waiting in the wings or have Youk to move back there.
I saw it somewhere the last day or two that Gonzalez to Dodgers was briefly discussed but the writer didn't say what the Sox may have received in return. Can't remember who wrote it though.
So Shaughnessy says he things its Gonzalez but doesn't offer any insight on what led him to that conclusion. Great.
 

TheoShmeo

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Dan made some fair points in his column today but his continued focus on Henry's location during Sox games and that, horrors, Henry was in London for the games, is imbecilic. Phones, blackberries and MLB.tv make travel and continuing involvement with the team easily achievable. And , of course, if Henry was at every game and was in Ben's presence at all times, Dan would claim that the owner is meddlesome.
 

Lose Remerswaal

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Dan made some fair points in his column today but his continued focus on Henry's location during Sox games and that, horrors, Henry was in London for the games, is imbecilic. Phones, blackberries and MLB.tv make travel and continuing involvement with the team easily achievable. And , of course, if Henry was at every game and was in Ben's presence at all times, Dan would claim that the owner is meddlesome.
Those tools make involvement possible? Definitely. But where in 2004 and 2007 Henry, et al, had the Red Sox do deal with (and early stages of FSG), now they have Liverpool on their plate. Now they have Roush Fenway Racing on their plate. Now they have all these other distractions that take up time that used to be spent worrying about and working on the Red Sox. Whether or not this team is successful, there is no possible way that John Henry and Tom Werner can be spending as much time working on the Red Sox now as they did 5 or 8 years ago.

Not to mention that I'm sure Henry's basic financial business was easier to run in up economies of the mid 2000's than it is now in the doldrums of the past few years.
 

TheoShmeo

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Those tools make involvement possible? Definitely. But where in 2004 and 2007 Henry, et al, had the Red Sox do deal with (and early stages of FSG), now they have Liverpool on their plate. Now they have Roush Fenway Racing on their plate. Now they have all these other distractions that take up time that used to be spent worrying about and working on the Red Sox. Whether or not this team is successful, there is no possible way that John Henry and Tom Werner can be spending as much time working on the Red Sox now as they did 5 or 8 years ago.

Not to mention that I'm sure Henry's basic financial business was easier to run in up economies of the mid 2000's than it is now in the doldrums of the past few years.I
I guess I don't buy that Henry and Werner aren't able to focus sufficiently on multiple interests at once. I also have a hard time imagining that there are a lot of days when they would ever need to spend much more than 3-4 hours on the team before game time.

As to the spending, I believe that they're closer to the luxury tax now than they were when they won the titles. At the very least, it's not as if the new economy has resulted in the sox spending less annually. The current additional spending constipation is the result of having entered into several questionable contacts that, if you believe Theo, arose from greater ownership involvement in the post 2007 era.
 

Lose Remerswaal

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I guess I don't buy that Henry and Werner aren't able to focus sufficiently on multiple interests at once. I also have a hard time imagining that there are a lot of days when they would ever need to spend much more than 3-4 hours on the team before game time.

As to the spending, I believe that they're closer to the luxury tax now than they were when they won the titles. At the very least, it's not as if the new economy has resulted in the sox spending less annually. The current additional spending constipation is the result of having entered into several questionable contacts that, if you believe Theo, arose from greater ownership involvement in the post 2007 era.
Much closer to the cap this year than in prior years. In prior years they were well over it!

These guys are older and have other very important responsibilities. No way they can spend as much time on Baseball now as they did then. I'm sure they were spending 8-10 hours/day or more when the Sox were the only things on their plates.
 

PBDWake

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The issue always seems to change. Sometimes Lucchino is too involved and not giving Ben any leash. Sometimes ownership is too removed from the situation. I tend to prefer (relatively) hands off ownership if they hire competent people to run their team. I don't need a Jerry Jones inserting himself into the daily operations of the team, because most of the time they're significantly less informed than the people bringing things to their attention. I expect ownership to be available to take Ben and Bobby's calls, and make decisions once they're presented with options by people more knowledgeable than themselves. I have little to no faith that John Henry could help things by being more involved with the team.