OTC: Omaha No Longer Gordon’s Desired Destination
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Sections
John
“Gordon, Hochevar, JP Howell, Matthew Campbell, Mitch Maier, Chris Lubanski, Colt Griffin, Mike Stodolka, Jimmy Gobble, Mike MacDougal, etc. in their system? Can it all be chalked up to poor scouting?”
You’re right. Some guys are just bust and some guys have talent but the team who drafted him can’t mold the talent.
Even though I think Gordon is a bust, how would he do if lets say the Yankee’s, Dodgers, Cubs, Mets, Twins, or at lest 80 percent of any other MLB team drafted him?
I think if Pujols was drafted to the Royals, he wouldn’t be the player he is today.
Ptolemy
Whitlock doesn’t vote in political elections, therefore, his political opinions are irrelevant. Disregard him, ignore his op-ed columns and move along with life.
___
GH: Whitlock’s admittance in his first Op-Ed column that he has never voted — never — has to be a first for an Op-Ed columnist at any newspaper in the U.S. Not to mention one of the more embarrassing promotions (gifts) in the history of journalism. It is akin to an American sports columnist not knowing the difference between Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig. Oh yeah, that was Jason as well.
George Costanza
Gordon has been a bust but it was the right pick at the time. He was the NCAA player of the year and labeled a sure thing. That was not a bad pick. He’s just turned out to be a total dud.
Ptolemy
Whitlock penning political op-ed’s without voting is atrocious. I know people who live in countries where the right to vote is a matter of life and death and many in their families have died trying to retain that sacred act of self-determination. Not voting is an unforgivable offense for that position.
It makes about as much sense as black Klansman, Louie Farakkhan dating a Jewish woman, or Henry Louis Gates complaining about too many blacks in his Cambridge neighborhood.
If nothing else, putting Whitlock in an op-ed position screams of the Star’s desperation to salvage a liberally biased paper swirling the stool in a conservative town faster than bunny poop in one of Hearne’s Thunder Toilets.
Stevo
I’ve never missed a vote…ever. But I don’t look down on people who don’t vote because they don’t feel like they’re represented in this system. I will go cast my vote against Sam Brownback in November no matter who the Dem or Indy candidates are but I know that my vote doesn’t mean a thing in Kansas.
jojo
Its not poor scouting. Listen to frank white
talk. Its poor training…managing…and
obviously scouting.
At some point, glass has to sit down and figure
out that the clowns running this thing have no
idea or plan what to do.
Example: gordon> Lets understand he’s a bust.
But you have callaspo at third with a great bat.
You tell everyone that gordon will play first
and move butler to dh. then you tell everyone
that gordon goes to left field. Then you realize
gordon can’t hit and a left fielder hitting
anything less than 240 is a huge problem in
baseball.
You got aviles…the hawaiian kid…probably]
3 other prospects that you fell good about.
But you can’t bring them up and disturb what
the royals have now.
They have great hitting. Their starters have
been adequate. Greinke should be 5-1…you’ve
had middle relievers give upi games…change
the outcome of 3 or 4 games and the royals
are playing 500 ball.
Glass sits in arkansas and tells shorty moore
to make money. And do it with what he has.
He makes millionsfor the boss…the fans are
satisfied with mediocrity…he’s selling booze
and greasy fried chicken like he’s colonel
sanders and glass is happy.
After all this bitching when will you peopple
understand its not about winning. We will always be oneof the worst teams in the division/league.
Its about money..making lots of money.
Until glass changes his attitude and tries to
mess with his formula of money making success
we get teams like this. In the wal mart philosophy you stick with the program. Youy don’t
deviate. The wal mart philosophy works great and
its a cash cow. So glass isn’t going to change.
At some point he’ll evaluate the coaching staff
and determine if changing them is smart and
won’t affect his profits.
It’s simple…don’t rock the boat….make money
and remember that the guy at the top is a
successful money making machine.
There’s still time. I stillthink that this team
will get hot (hopefully before sept. …lol)
and turn it around.
a few games they get some breaks…they start
hitting for greinke…and by the end of may
they are at 500 ball and glass is sitting inhis
cave in arkansas counting his cash.
smartman
The Royals are cursed. Until David Glass is gone the curse sticks.
Whitlock is to the Star what Tony Botello is to KCC or TKC, an uninformed race baiter that pisses people off. Always quick with a problem, never any solution and never any REAL reporting skills in their work.
jojo
HALL…THE AUTHORITY ON BASEBALL BROADCASTERS
SAID YOU WERE WRONG IN YOUR UNDERHANDED
EVALUATION OF DENNY MATHEWS AND THAT IT
WAS TIME TO GO.
WHO IS THIS SO CALL BASEBALL BROADCASTING
AUTHORITY WHO CALLED DENNY “ONE OF THE MOST
UNDERRATED BROADCASTERS IN BASEBALL”
AND HOW COME YOU LET THIS GUY GET AWAY WITH
SAYING YOU WERE WAY OFF BASE.
WE DON’T LIKE OUR HOME TOWN BOYS GETTING
BEATEN UP IN THE MEDIA LIKE THIS>
___
GH: I don’t have any problem with others voicing a differing opinion than mine — especially here in the KCC Comments section. You should be well aware of that, jojo.
Mr.X
Interesting piece at fangraphs about Gordon: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/alex-gordon-demoted-2/. Is he George Brett? No. But he has always* contributed to winning games, more so than most of the rest of the team.
I’m a little frustrated that his “shot” to prove he deserves 3b in 2010 consisted of 38 PA’s.
*when healthy.
Cliffy
Completely lost interest in Wright’s rant against Fescue’s comments when he extended the rant into the second half-hour. I have no idea what Fescue had to say in response since I never listen to him.
Question about Fescue … anybody know anything about his background? I remember a really silly segment he did back when he was at 810 where he interviewed his own sister after she was detained for refusing to cooperate with airport security. It had something to do with her refusal to take off a jacket or sweater or something llike that. She came across as a snotty rich kid who doesn’t like to be told what to do. I have no idea why he thought that would be interesting radio … especially sports talk radio.
The Independent Rage
I don’t think I’d agree with the view that Whitlock’s first two political columns were uninteresting. He’s hitting on issues and people that everyone’s talking about these days (e.g., the Arizona immigration law, Sara Palin, etc.), AND he’s doing so by pointing fingers at both sides of the political spectrum (something which very few political columnists ever do). Perhaps his columns lacked tight organization as you point out, but I definitely didn’t find them boring.
i got it
I had no problem getting her to take her blouse off
rick
Hey Greg Who was it that died in baseball that Jason called you and asked you if they were important? It was like some superstar and he had no clue.
___
GH: Joe DiMaggio died in March of 1999 and JW called me to dicuss the topic for his next column.
“Do you think I should write about DiMaggio?” he asked.
“What do you know about him?” I replied.
“Isn’t he the guy who played in all those games in a row?” Jason asked.
“No, Jason, I don’t think you should write about Joe DiMaggio,” I responded.
Gavin
First, it’s Graig Nettles, not Greg. As a dude named Greg, you can be forgiven but, as I am the spelling Nazi, I still must rap your knuckles with a ruler.
Second, my two cents on the Royals’ drafting: Some of the guys you listed as misses, like Jimmy Gobble, aren’t necessarily big misses. I think Gobble was the fourth Royal taken that year and the Royals did get something out of him at the big league level. You can’t compare him, as a bust, to guys like Colt Griffin because the expectations were different. The question isn’t what did the Royals miss with Jimmy Gobble. The question is what did they do wrong with Kyle Snyder, Mike MacDougal and Jay Gehrke (each of whom were taken ahead of him in that year’s draft).
Griffin was a magnificent flop and it’s explained by bad scouting. Allard Baird saw the dude light up a radar gun amd that was all he needed to see. Stupid. And if Jimmy Gobble had been taken as high as Griffin, he’d also be a spectacular failure. But as a fourth rounder, it’s hard to say that Gobble was a waste of a pick. I’m not as concerned by mid- to late-round picks, but those first rounders are where the Royals are getting killed.
And I’m with you, Greg. I loved the Gordon pick when it was made and I don’t think that looking back they should have done anything different based on what they knew at the time. Who knew Zimmerman was going to be so good and who figured he’d be better than Gordon? No one. But he’s a flop now, so the team needs to move on. Trade him, make him fix himself in Omaha, whatever. Just get better.
Ptolemy
Gordoc pick?
Gavin
Ahhh…dammit! I mean, ummm…yeah, Lou Gordoc. He was an early round but failed pick of the Royals.
___
GH: I got your back, G. It never happened.
Francis Soyer
Every baseball scout had Gordon as the 2nd pick of that draft behind Justin Upton. What the hell happens to these picks in the Royals system? Who’s to say that the same wouldn’t have happened to Ryan Zimmerman?
At least now the Royals are spending money on draft choices and their minor league system. Perhaps they were so far behind that it will take years for them to catch up with other teams in MLB. No more picks like Lubanski and Stodolka based on “signability”. Look no further than the former laughingstock Rays to see what good drafting and minor league coaching can do for a franchise.
Brencado
Gordon’s problem is his frickin’ ego. He has been a POS since he arrived. Tried to get him to sign for my boys a few times and he acted like he had one foot in the doors of Cooperstown. I say let his ass rot in Omaha, then he can hang up his spikes since the buggies love him so much.
rick
Thanks Greg for clarification.