Evan Grant on C.J. Wilson
by Adam J. Morris on Jun 20, 2008 1:44 PM CDT
Email
PrintEvan Grant blogs at length about the C.J. Wilson situation, and the pros and cons on whether Wilson should remain as closer...
A lot of good stuff there...check it out...
23 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
I love this quote
A great closer has to have incredible confidence and no ego; it’s a really difficult mix to achieve.
It’s an unquantifiable characteristic, but going down the list of the great closers of all time, I think this can be said about nearly all of them.
I guess it was the beatings made me wise. But I'm not about to give thanks, or apologize.
hmm
There’s so much more to talk about on Wilson. . .And actions like last year’s attempt to hold Sammy Sosa’s 600th homer hostage, this spring’s blogging incident (by the way, he returned to that activity earlier this month) and his recent coiffing adventure (I’ve got no issues with a Mohawk, but you blow a game with a bad fielding play late one evening and then the first thing you do before an afternoon game the next day is think about grooming issues, well, I just think the perception you give to teammates and fans is not one of let’s say seriousness and focus).
not sure where that comes from. Is any of that relevant?
Rare Gnats Sex
Is it relevant?
Probably not. If he was still the lights out BGL we saw last season, nobody would care.
But I do think it’s interesting that the one player on your squad who needs to be a model of consistency is doing something as erratic as getting a mohawk between games. It’s not that big of a deal…but it is noteworthy.
I guess it was the beatings made me wise. But I'm not about to give thanks, or apologize.
well
it’s not even a correct characterization. he did it in response to his pitching woes – its not evidence of bad priorities. It’s not like he can do some magical exercise to get his focus back, these are the types of things you have to try. Seems like you would only bring these things up if you have an axe to grind. Not a big axe, but it’s there
Rare Gnats Sex
blogging
“returned to that activity” ? all he did was maintain his mlb blog, which if i recall the team had 0 issues with.
i cant read the site now, dmn blogs are down it seems
"I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it." - Mitch Hedberg
Can someone refresh my memory on the Sosa ball...
...I don’t remember the details of that. I thought there was some prank involved but maybe I’m wrong. What exactly happened?
Physician: Primum non nocere
Batter: First, make no out
What was the Sosa incident?
I don’t remember or didn’t hear about that one.
I don’t think the mohawk thing is a big deal. He probably felt that he needed to start being better on the mound and decided to change his physical appearance to match the change he needed to make on the mound.
The biggest problem of all the CJ closer talk is that its hard to look at yesterday’s game and see it as a good chance to succeed. He’s pitched all of a sudden in 4 out of 5 days after having 4-5 days in a row of not throwing a single pitch. And he threw over 20 pitches in 3 of those 4 games. He’s going through a slump, but its tough to say how much of that is on him and how much is on too heavy a workload in too short of a period of time.
By 2028, Mark Teixeira will be in the HOF.
-The Outlaw
sosa
he posted that he AND the bullpen wanted to get the bullpen catcher a new car, and agreed to hold the ball hostage IF it landed in the pen until sosa agreed to give their bullpen catcher a new car (his was all beatup and he isnt paid well)
to characterize it like HE held the thing hostage is irresponsible ,,,, but again, i cant read the blog right now the site isnt pulling up so i may be getting miffed at nothing
"I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it." - Mitch Hedberg
Yeah
It is kind of dick of Evan to bring that “incident” up with that kind of tone…
Here’s the link to the original story.
I guess it was the beatings made me wise. But I'm not about to give thanks, or apologize.
Well I read it
and he definitely made it out to seem like it was something bad rather than just a bit of a clubhouse joke. I can somewhat understand the blogging misunderstanding though I think that was way overblown. That is just stupid to bring up.
By 2028, Mark Teixeira will be in the HOF.
-The Outlaw
I get the feeling that somewhere back a piece...
...Christopher John did something that pissed Evan off. Not sure what it was or when it happened (maybe related to the spring training “Douche-Gate”?) but that’s a feeling I get.
Physician: Primum non nocere
Batter: First, make no out
I'm not sure
but once the dmn blogs come back i’m going to give it a read…. and i may be sending evan an email. I’ve always found his reporting (even blog entries) to be fair, this seems over the line.
"I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it." - Mitch Hedberg
I agree
I usually don’t have much of a problem with what Evan writes. I don’t always agree with what he writes, but he usually knows what he is writing about and makes his points. This one really doesn’t fit in with that.
By 2028, Mark Teixeira will be in the HOF.
-The Outlaw
In one of the comments
It was suggested that CJ was overly influenced by the Gagne ritual. Like sitting down after a prescribed warmup, etc. That hit a chord with me, because I think CJ might be better off simply being himself than emulating Gagne or anyone else.
"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang (1844-1912)
by Ed Coffin on Jun 20, 2008 3:42 PM CDT reply actions
That last bitter sophomoric little diatribe may have turned me against EG
He should stop trying to be a baseball writer and focus more of his energy on his strict routine of being a useless fatty, cause his baseball insight is stupid.
What a jackass.
EG: A closer needs to be supremely confident and not let things bother him.
EG: I can’t believe CJ was worrying about grooming issues of all things. Obviously if he was a real closer he would have let losing bother him!
Which is it, dumb-dumb? Closers need to have the ability to maintain their confidence through adversity? Or, Closers need to let losses effect everything in their life to the point where they postpone hair cuts the day after a loss?
The only thing Evan Grant is good for is not doing situps.
The 40 Trumps All!!!
I hate ...
... when people dislike something that is said and go after someone’s physical appearance instead of sticking to the issue at hand. It is childish. However, I understand your anger because EG is usually a good writer, but that entire last paragraph was complete crap. I think this may be some sour grapes over how many people here at LSB turned against EG after the whole incident with CJ’s comments.
I also take issue with how many people in the comments section of the blog entry blame things like Guitar Hero or MySpace for CJ’s woes. Are you fricken kidding me? Seriously?! So a closer has to be so steely and determined that he can’t hold a charity event, or write a blog entry on his MySpace page? I don’t get this logic at all. Should he stay in a little bubble and have no life outside of the bullpen? People are stupid sometimes.
useless fatty?
really? you know he reads this blog. you have no problem knowing that he read that?
you could do a fair bit of growing up yourself
Rare Gnats Sex
Uncalled for
and a bit strident, coming from someone who usually posts well thought out opinions.
...and curse Sir Sidney Ponson, he was such a stupid git.
I am not a useless fatty
Fatty? Definitely. But I’m working on it. Lost 12 pounds since the start of the season. And hope I provide some use to readers.
Other than that, all the comments here are great discussion points. I obviously think some of the off-the-field stuff matters. A lot of y’all don’t. The Sosa incident was silly and nobody in the clubhouse found it to be “good clubhouse fun,” the blogging incident obviously really ticked off his teammates to the point they were willing to talk about it on the record; and the mohawk thing just struck me as kinda weird. I’m all for changing things up and so forth, but it just struck me that in that short turnaround from night game to day game that C.J. would spend enough time thinking about “changing things up,” that he’d wake up and say “You know what? Now would be a good time for a Mohawk.”
Yes, Dirkatron, there is a bit of darned-if-you-do, darned-if-you-don’t to the post; at least it sounds that way. Not really how I meant it. But I can certainly see how it reads that way.
Evan
I was going to send you an email about this but i’ll just respond here.
I am a fan of yours and enjoy your work. You are the best rangers beat writer by far. But the opinions expressed in todays blog entry were silly and came off as spiteful.
I don’t think anything he did off the field such as the blogging incident or the sosa thing (which from what we were told was the entire bullpen not just him) has any impact on his ability to close games. And if his teammates didn’t have faith in him on and off the field he wouldn’t be their union rep. And as far as being back to blogging, if i’m not mistaken the team encouraged him to start the mlb.com blog.
And what effect does a mowhawk have? baseball players can be a weird breed and cj is probably “weirder” than most. It doesn’t shock me at all that he had a bad game and wanted to change things up and go with the hawk. It works for papelbon it can work for cj.
Bottom line, i think it remains to be seen if he really is a closer or possibly needs to move to a back of the rotation starter. But bringing up some of these off field things just seems wrong
"I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it." - Mitch Hedberg
My guess is the bullpen didn't care
And I really could care less about what most of the rest of that clubhouse thought. There are what, 7/8 guys from the team at that time that are still on the team now. That’s not really a big deal.
By 2028, Mark Teixeira will be in the HOF.
-The Outlaw
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
