Gammons: "This isn't going to end well"

[threecy]

There's also the position player-pitching divide...how often do you see position players putting their pitcher teammates in their place?  Anecdotally, this seems like the role of a veteran pitcher-leader, which the team is lacking.

 

[Philip Jeff Frye]

So your position is Pg is just making things up? You think he randomly picks a list of people, not that he has more information than you.

Maybe he's not intentionally making things up, but he's at least making some big assumptions. And how convenient that those assumptions fit nicely into the narrative that he's trying to create. Just like the 2011 collapse under Francona, it's not sufficient to explain the team's disappointments with on the field factors like injuries, bad luck or simple lack of talent. No, it's all about leadership and character and other nebulous stuff that Gammons and the like want to pontificate about, whether or not those qualities are actually present.

 

[Buzzkill Pauley]

Maybe he's not intentionally making things up, but he's at least making some big assumptions. And how convenient that those assumptions fit nicely into the narrative that he's trying to create. Just like the 2011 collapse under Francona, it's not sufficient to explain the team's disappointments with on the field factors like injuries, bad luck or simple lack of talent. No, it's all about leadership and character and other nebulous stuff that Gammons and the like want to pontificate about, whether or not those qualities are actually present.

 
Yeah, but that didn't end well, either.

 

[Rovin Romine]

Peter Gammons @pgammo
Brock Holt, Mookie Betts, Zander Bogaerts 9-for-14. Is this the beginning of moving on from the 3-4-5-6 past to using 14 positional players?

Gammo just tweeted that.  I have been staring at it since it popped up on my feed and I can't for the life of me figure out what he's trying to say.  Either it's further evidence he's losing it or Twitter just isn't the medium for his thoughts.

 
Perhaps he means the players who are associated with the 3-6 spots in the line-up are a thing of the past.  Ortiz, Napoli, Sandoval, Hanley?  I don't get the 14 though.  Unless it means that those 3-6 guys shouldn't be doggedly played no matter what.  

 

[Philip Jeff Frye]

 
Yeah, but that didn't end well, either.

Indeed. But the problem is not leadership or character. Then, it was injuries and extreme bad luck. Today, it's underperforming players and the front office's apparent inability to correctly identify and value talent.

 

[Yelling At Clouds]

Indeed. But the problem is not leadership or character. Then, it was injuries and extreme bad luck. Today, it's underperforming players and the front office's apparent inability to correctly identify and value talent.

The two aren't mutually exclusive. The team can have both underperforming players and also an issue with internal leadership. I have no idea if that's the case, but I have no real reason to doubt it, either.

I'm not sure I understand the rush to kill Gammons over this column, frankly.