If you screw up, we will find you
ByWhen we heard about the Rookie of the Year award results yesterday, we also found out that three writers voted for the Reds’ Edinson Volquez despite his ineligibility. He had 80 innings of ML ball heading into 2008, thus disqualifying him as a rookie. I could make some sweeping generalization about how this exemplifies the state of mainstream baseball coverage, but I’d like to keep the criticism focused on the guilty party. Thankfully, Keith Law outs the guilty parties.
To Jeremy Cothran of the Newark Star Ledger, John Klima of the Los Angeles Daily News, and Jay Paris of the North County Times (San Diego), please inform us why you should continue to serve as a baseball writer. After all — and this applies especially to Cothran, who graduated college just three years ago — there are plenty of people who want your job, and would actually bother to do the requisite research.
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The Mason Williams Watch
I’m voting for Edinson Volquez as Manager of the Year too. No one said he actually had to be a manager to get votes, right?
I’m writing in Ron Paul.
I’m writing in Ron Paul.
+1
I’m embaressed someone who works for the Star-Ledger messed this up. They all should be dismissed by their employers.
-Scott
What is 3 Kids Tickets?
“I guess I was just too busy at the ballpark in the sun watching a baseball game in person to go to my mother’s basement and turn on her computer and find a blog that would give Volquez’s eligibility stats. Sorry, loser.”
- Generic baseball writer
NERDS! NERDS! NERDS!
Im not gonna really get at this people like I should really. Mainly cuz, hey these writers don’t know much about a-bats/innings that a person get to be ineligible for ROY or this or that. They should but they don’t. Hey they fucked up but hey what ya gonna do.
What it does tell you is this, the media don’t do research and suck at their jobs and really shouldn’t be listen we the consumers read their articles. I,ve said many times, the writers in journalism period have gotten worse and we the consumers shouldn’t really take this and these writers have too much power nowadays.
I dont know if its that the writers are getting worse and worse or that the basement dwellers anonymous are becoming more and more informed.
wilbon and reilly wholeheartedly agree timmy lincecum should not have won the cy young BECAUSE:
brandon webb won 22 games in a time where people rarely win 20
brad lidge was PERFECT in save situations.
maybe writers are getting worse.
Never mind that outside of the wins stat, Lincecum beats Webb in almost every single category/stats in pitching.
did they announce the cy young’s yet?
yea.
I got dumber listening to that segment. Wilbon thought Lincecum should have been FOURTH OR FIFTH on the ballot, with CC getting the award for half-a-year’s worth of work.
damn lincecum has a snaggle tooth
I was so pissed of at this statement – I really have to question their show and their baseball knowledge now. What a joke. I sent him an e-mail…
At least they didn’t try to vote him in for AL RoY. That’s where those 80 innings came from, after all……..
Wait… Keith Law is a food critic? Really?
“I highly recommend the Chilean sea bass with saffron risotto at Barcadia. It’s been OPS’ing .928 this fall.”
I lol’d at the sea bass comment.
But more importantly, after learning that he’s also a food critic, I respect him even more.
This is really embarrassing for them. If I ever make it in the world of sports journalism, I promise I won’t be as lazy/stupid.
Anyone else creeped out by these new ads (“How I Lost 46 POUNDS in THREE MONTHS.”) Put on some pants, dude. Ick.
Why is he not wearing pants outside?
holy shit i was gonna say something, I can deal with it if it were like belly button up but the fram is cut off like a milimeter before u see the brain…. nasty
Sorry… That comment was off-topic and I should have emailed instead of commenting. Label my comment “Horrendously Retarded” along with the original post.
Eh, at least it’s more pleasant than watching a Melky Cabrera at bat.
Maybe for you, Mike. Is that what they taught you out in California?
Haha on the 6 o’clock SC they were talking to Kurkjian about the Cy Young and they were like, “Let’s look at the NEW, NUMBER-CRUNCHING stats! We call it, the NEEEXXXTTT LEVEEEL!” and then they showed Webb’s and Lincecum’s stats side by side. Their “NEEEEXXXT LEVEEEEL” stats? W-L, ERA, and WHIP.
I mean, I guess it’s good that SC is trying to pander to informed fans, and they actually did touch on the meaninglessness of wins and how starters are more important than relievers, but still, why do they have to give it a special name? Is it really the “NEEEEXXT LEVEEEEL” of stats, or is it just rational, intelligent discourse?
Either way, the media still has a long way to go as evidenced by Johan finishing behind Webb. Lincecum and Johan were clearly 1-2 in some order.
Saw that too. I am embarrassed for Timmy K.
Technically, there’s a time-on-the-MLB-roster requirement that has to be exceeded to lose RoY status, too. But Volquez was over that. (I think it’s 45 days of service, not counting September time, or something like that.)
Actually, I think surpassing the IP minimum OR the service time minimum will remove RoY eligibility. So yeah… dumbasses.