Not counting the game last night, today is opening day for major league baseball. Normally, I'd have the Atlanta Braves on. Not this year. Last season was the straw that broke the camel's back. It was a train wreck. The lineup had two glaring black holes: Dan Uggla who hit .162 and B.J. Upton who hit .208, up from .184 in 2013. Dan Uggla was released mid-season. B.J. Upton was owed too much money. Manager Fredi Gonzalez continued to play B.J. the entire season, even when it was beyond obvious his best position was on the bench. It was brutal and massively frustrating to watch those guys, especially when the whole team was in a slump. B.J. was so bad that in the off-season he changed his name to Melvin Upton Jr. Think rebranding.
When last year's season ended, I waited to see if Frank Wren(general manager) and Fredi Gonzalez(manager) would finally be fired. Fredi took over as manager in 2011. After watching him for a month, it became clear he wasn't up to major league standards. He's not terrible. He's not great. He's mediocre. During his first month, I saw him failing to make adjustments to events on the field. By the end of that month, I'd developed a bad feeling about where the Braves were headed. Since then, I've seen him out-maneuvered and generally outsmarted by better managers. It's been hard to watch, but I stuck with it for 4 seasons hoping and hoping he'd be let go. I almost gave up when his contract was renewed, but I didn't. Looking back, I should have.
After last year's season was over, Frank Wren got the boot. Fredi Gonzalez and B.J. Upton got to stay. The scuttlebutt said that Fredi was supposed to be fired, too, but Bobby Cox, who was heavily involved in making decisions, fought to keep Fredi around. Fredi's contract is up this year. Basically, he has this year to prove himself. Allegedly.
It still makes me mad, if I let it. I finally decided that as long as Fredi and B.J. were with the Braves I wouldn't waste my time watching them, not until they're both gone. Total boycott. If things are bad enough, Fredi could be let go by the all-star break. I'm not holding my breath. Last night saw some amazing news come across the wire. At the last minute, B.J. Upton was traded to the Padres! The Braves had to give up Craig Kimbrel, the best closer in the game, but B.J. is gone! I was so tempted to lift my boycott. I wanted to lift it, but Fredi will still be there stumbling along.
So, this year I'm switching to my backup team, the Chicago Cubs. They've made some great moves in the off season, picking up a good manager(it's what they say anyway) and an ace pitcher. The stadium is under renovation. They look like they're trying to win. The Braves' ownership, Liberty Media, haven't been trying to field a truly winning team. Their strategy has been to put a "good enough" product on the field that keeps bottoms in the seats to keep the money flowing in. Liberty Media spends the least it can and pockets the profits. You could say the mediocrity starts at the top.
Something I won't miss is the deception the broadcast team uses to mask problems from casual fans. They adore meaningless statistics. For example, they might say something like, B.J.'s hit safely in 7 of the last 10 games. Then they show a graphic of it that gives the impression of 70%. Well, if he averaged 4 at bats per game in the last ten games, that could mean that he got a hit 7 out of 40 chances, which is an embarrassing .175 average over the last ten games. When he was hitting .179, they would pull something like a 7 of 10 stat out to make it seem like he was on fire, when he was actually dragging the team down and hitting below .200. The announcers don't seem to be allowed to say anything that might influence someone not to come out to the ballpark. In other words they don't tell the truth about what's going on with the big picture. It's incredibly slanted coverage and generally roses and kittens. The broadcasts are filled with statistics that when you really analyze and think about them are completely and utterly meaningless. I'm so tired of that kind of deliberate deception.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing what the Cubs do this year. I might watch a Pirates game from time to time. They were interesting last year and might be this year, too.
Today's French word is crapuleuses. I saw it in a news broadcast about terrorism, and it made me wonder. It means rogue.
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