I don’t believe anything that comes out of the NY sports press. Seriously: if you thought Blaine Newham was a tool of the Mariners (which he is), he’s got nothing on these guys. As a group, they’re managed like the White House press corps: stories are floated, spun, counter-spun, entire careers are won and destroyed in the pages of the NY dailies every season. You only have to think back to the Lou Piniella-Mets-Mariners media war for a great example of how different people with connections there can wage war against their opponents in black-and-white newsprint.
And I’ll say this, too: if the first batch of interviews were underwhelming, this goes right back to my complaint that they don’t know what they’re doing. If you interview a set of people based on their connection to Gillick, rather than their ability to add something to the organization (as if, the M’s knew what they needed, even), of course there’s a good chance that none of them are going to seem like good fits. I’ll bring up my example again: if you need a stove, and you go into your local consumer appliance MegaStore without a clue about what you’re looking for, spend a couple hours looking at fridges, wireless keyboards, new CDs, washer/dryer combos, it’s no shock that at the end of your shopping, you might have something in your cart you’re not excited about and be disappointed there’s really nothing out there that you can cook food on.
Aaaaarrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Several recent stories, from the New York Post and New Jersey Star-Ledger, suggest that the M’s were waiting around to see if the Yankees were going to fire Brian Cashman before deciding on a new GM. One article even went so far as to say the candidates interviewed were simply a smokescreen, and that Cashman was their #1 guy all along. Now that Cashman appears to be safe for at least another season, perhaps they’ll get down to business.
Hey Derek, Winston-Salem is quite nice this time of year. Property is much, much cheaper out here too. Did I mention the exciting Winston-Salem Warthogs are just mintues away? Ernie Shore Field might not be Safeco, but its the only stadium in the country with free wireless broadband internet access. No, I’m not kidding. All 14 of us who go to the games wonder why we got to be the first to show off the Wi-Fi hotspot features, and have no idea if anyone has actually used it or not. Anyways, there was a point to this post that had to do with the M’s.
I’ve been told that they might not name a GM this week, as originally expected, and that the first batch of interviews were underwhelming. New candidates could be brought in this week that have not been mentioned, and there is no frontrunner in this race anymore.
Oh, and thanks to everyone who emailed me about my post on Steve Coffey. It was therapeutic for me to write it, but I’m glad it could help some of you as well.
M’s want their 2004 season ticket deposit money now. If they need the money so badly, there are any number of locally-owned check cashing operations that would be happy to help them out (because “heart always matters” as they’ll tell you 12 times an hour if you listen to commercial radio around here).
Also, thanks to the kindness of readers, I’ve got my computer up and back on the network, but I have to finish up my Baseball Prospectus 2004 work this week, and I’m trying to buy a house/sell a house/move, so it’s likely I’m not going to put up all that delicious content I’ve been mulling over. Soon, dear readers, soon.
Because I hate for a day to go by without at least one post, I’ll pass along thing little nugget: the M’s have purchased the contract of RHP Julien Tucker from the Quebec Capitales of the indy Northeast League. That’s not the Northern League, mind you, but the Northeast League. In any event, this is what we know about him: he’s Canadian and has spent 11 years toiling in the minors. This link will give you his career line entering the 2003 season, and this one from Baseball America will show you what he did last season in extremely limited work.
You shouldn’t get too excited about this, though it is worth noting that the M’s have had success finding solid players in the indy leagues — Bobby Madritsch, George Sherrill, Dustin Delucchi, Greg Jacobs — in the past year or so.
There’s sad news tonight, folks — Ken Cloude has signed a minor league contract with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. I wish him the best, but somehow reuniting with Lou doesn’t seem like the best career choice. First Mabry, now Cloude… the organization is falling apart.
Also, I notice that the Yankees have declined their contract option on LHP Gabe White. He’d make a nice addition to next year’s bullpen, either along with or instead of Arthur Rhodes.
The Mariners have declined to bring John Mabry back for next year, the Everett Herald reports. Manny cleared waivers, so the team didn’t bite on him. Thanks to reader Michael Lewis for the link.
Forgive me for a slightly contemplative mood and a completely unrelated post to the usual topics at hand.
For me, November 1st, 2002 is one of those days that I will always remember. My parents talk of where they were when JFK was shot, we landed on the moon, or the space shuttle exploded. For me, 365 days ago, I found out what that feeling was like.
I was sitting in church on a Friday night when my roommate left the room to take a phone call. When he returned, his expression changed, but I paid little attention to it. As the service wound down, Chad told the speaker that he had received word that friends of ours had gotten into a car accident in Charlotte and were being treated at the North Carolina burn unit in Chapel Hill. At that point, we were told that it was time to pray, and the names of those involved were read. I heard the name Elizabeth Dunnagan, whom I had never met. Then came Vito Cheong, an acquaintance but not someone I was particularly close to. My heart sank, however, when the words Steve Coffey rolled through my ears.
We did not know the extent of the injuries, and my first reaction was that I hoped it wouldn’t effect Steve’s plans to come see our new apartment. After a few minutes, though, my eyes began to water, and I headed outside and broke down. Something inside of me knew it wasn’t good. I knew I had to go to Raleigh and see my friend. Chad and I took off in my car, him driving, as I was too shaken to steer. We got to the hospital around 11 p.m. and were told that Vito was fine, treated at the scene, and resting in Charlotte. Steve and Elizabeth were fighting for their lives.
At about 3 a.m., they told us they had an update and gathered the 100 or so people who had come into a meeting room, where they informed us that Steve Coffey had passed away after 23 years of life. I cried a bit, but not as hard as earlier, when I thought he was still alive. I hugged a few people who were as stunned as I was, not knowing what else to do. Chad and I drove home, nearly silent the entire time. Saturday was a blur filled with teary phone calls and a numbness I hope to never feel again. I called my parents and told them that I loved them, and tracked down a friend in Canada who was the only person I felt I could tell how I was really feeling. I called friends of Steve’s that hadn’t heard yet, waking them up with unbelievably bad news. I cried a little more, did absolutely nothing, and hoped to wake up from what seemed like a bad dream.
Steve was the first person to say hello to me when I walked into our school, thousands of miles from home and wondering what I was doing. Surrounded by strange people in a small town being melted by humidity, I felt out of place. Then he came over, said hi to me, and took the time to introduce me to some people feeling a lot like I did. On the day that I walked into that building, I needed a friend. I got a lot more than I asked for.
Steve and I were different guys, ran in different circles. We never became best buddies and didn’t do that many things together. However, had you seen the way he treated me when we were together, you would have thought he was my older brother. He treated everyone that way. He genuinely loved people and cared about everyone he ran into. He gave until he had no more to give, and then would ask if you needed anything else. Steve loved people, more than anyone I have ever met, and went out of his way to make sure that you knew he was there for you.
He had an effect on me. I was clearly not the only one, though, as nearly 1500 people crammed into a building designed for 600 to attend his memorial service. It was the most powerful two hours of my life, and I still watch the video from time to time to remember why I am here. His impact on my life is tangible, but for many others, he was more than a friend. He was a brother, a son, a coach, a mentor, a teacher, and someone to look up to. There were so many sides to Steve, but they all revolved around other people and how he could help them.
He grabbed a hold of the truth and ran with it, inspiring people along the way. He lived what he believed and reminded us all that there was far more to life than we had experienced. He was taken far too soon, but his death was the fuse that ignited change in a vast number of people. Even in passing, Steve Coffey was causing people to change. A foundation has been setup in his name to help build the youth camp that was one of his dreams. You can also call the 800 number on the page and order a copy of the video of his memorial service if you feel the need to be inspired. However, above all else, there is one lesson to be learned from his life; you can help someone in ways you never thought possible. There are a lot of 18-year-old David Cameron’s wandering around, looking for a friend. You are someone else’s Steve Coffey, and the chance to have an impact on someone’s life is the best thing you could ever accomplish.
I miss you Steve. Thanks for everything.
If nobody else is talking about it, I might as well — the M’s have hired Paul Molitor as their new hitting instructor. The most interesting part of this typically bland AP story, however, is this: When Molitor was interviewed recently, [Bret] Boone and [Edgar] Martinez were in the building and got word of his visit. “The message from Edgar was, ‘What are we waiting for? Let’s hire him,’ ” [Bob] Melvin said.
Now I don’t know about you, but that sure makes it sound to me that Edgar is planning on being back next season.
Update! Because I don’t want to leapfrog Dave’s post: problem’s solved, thanks again to the helpful intervention of readers, I’m up and running again. Content, content, content tonight. And I promise now to not to talk about what it cost to set up the site, as the site has now clearly given more back to me than I invested.
I’m sure many of you are thinking “I sure wish I knew how Derek was doing with his computer.” Let me tell you: Badly. I overnighted all these replacement parts, got the computer to power up, to find that it wouldn’t boot — it’d go to boot, and then I’d see a flash of the blue screen of death, and it would reboot before I could do anything. Repeat. I end up re-installing XP off my CD, which I had (to my credit) removed from the flimsy envelope it came in, put into a solid jewel case and stashed with the enevelope away from everything else. So install install install… boom, I need the flimsy envelope… and it’s nowhere to be found.
I get email sometimes from people who complain I’m too full of myself, but I sit down to write an article, or a post, and I remember all the things I’ve got wrong, from last week’s inability to remember Sterling Hitchcock got sent to the Cardinals to years and years back. I’m a guy who can’t succesfully keep a 25-character code for Windows XP attached to the CD it absolutely must not be separated with.
Anyway, this whole adventure has now cost me hours and hours and $hundreds. If there’s one thing I can pass along today, here:
Don’t buy cheap RAM for your computer unless you’re not attached to it, or your data, or your time.
I’d really have rather updated the GM scoreboard than torn my room up looking for the CD key. #@$@#%!@%!!!!