Shut up, Everybody.
“There’s not one person in our clubhouse that respects those guys,” Arencibia told Sportsnet the Fan 590 on Thursday morning. Which guys? Well, Dirk Hayhurst and Gregg Zaun.
“I know it’s part of the job . . . but they quickly forget how tough the game is,” Arencibia told the radio station.
That, I think, is the crux of his point. I don't think Arencibia brought up the playing careers of Zaun and Hayhurst to be a jerk (although, that's part of it) but to illustrate that the game is hard and that they, too, found the game hard. Hayhurst, who never quite got there, wrote two books worth of material about how hard the game is. Zaun had a 16 year journeyman career with average stuff and reportedly resorted to PEDs at one point-which is an action that indicates to me that he found the game hard.
As broadcasters, I find Hayhurst to be a little sanctimonious and often full of shit. I enjoy his banter with Jeff Blair. Yes, Hayhurst mocks his own ability, but he thinks very highly of his own opinion. Zaun has decided to make a new career of being the Don Cherry of baseball. He rarely has an opinion not shared, and I can see why media types and a certain bracket of the fanbase like him. There can sometimes be some satisfaction in hearing someone go off. It can be cathartic.
But if you are going to be free with your opinions, you can't be shocked when players might decide they don't want to talk to you anymore or call you out on morning radio. I think part of this is that some athletes see media as the enemy, and might see former athletes who become colour commentators (particularly ones as opinionated as Zaun and Hayhurst) as succumbing to the dark side.
Now, having said all that, J.P. Arencibia needs to improve his play. He needs to work on his defense (passed balls and pitch framing) and needs to learn to take a damn walk more often than once a fortnight. Power can alleviate the burden of strikeouts, but if you don't have much power, strikeouts are a serious problem. The guy is coachable, though, and I think he works hard.
I can't really get worked up about his comments and I found a lot of the tweets questioning his character to be a bit ridiculous. Of course, it might not have been particularly wise for Arencibia to do this, just from a PR perspective, but it is damn fine entertainment.
Arencibia talks, Hayhurst responds.
As for other things that are happening (for a game I didn't watch)
Rasmus slide? That’s big league hardball, kids. I have no idea why Torii Hunter and Max Scherzer are so butt hurt about it. Had Rasmus not slid hard, people would be on him for not playing the right way. I don't think Redmond hit Hunter in the shoulder on purpose (he had two strikes on him), so the bench clearing was just vented anger about the Rasmus slide.
Scherzer: “When you watch it on replay, his spikes are up, he’s sliding late. Rajai Davis is running there, he’s going to be safe at first, we're most likely not going to turn two there. There’s no reason to slide in like that. I feel like he should be suspended.”
Oh please.
“I’m going up there ready to hit,” Rasmus said. “If they hit me, that’s part of the game, too. Take it, put some ice on it, and go on about my business.”
The Jays have lost seven of ten since the winning streak. Josh Johnson did not get ahead of hitters and the situation was worsened by some questionable defense. Crappy pitching and defense? That describes April Blue Jays.
It's July. Enough already.