David Ortiz Talks Bat Flips, Hypocritically I May Add

If you ask 100 people and baseball fans around the country you’re likely to get a pretty good divide on where they stand as far as bat flipping goes. Some fans will be all about it, remember hitting a Major League pitch is one of the hardest things to do in the world and hitting a big home run in a big spot is about a million times harder, while some will look down on the players who do it. That’s what makes the game so much fun as a fan, you have the traditionalists and you have the progressive fans all thrown into one ballpark with one common goal and prize that we’re all rooting for, winning. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, including today’s receiver of my latest rant Mr. David Ortiz, but all I ask for personally is some consistency. 

Ortiz did an interview with the Boston Globe on the subject of bat flips and was quoted as saying this:

“Whenever somebody criticizes a power hitter for what we do after we hit a home run, I consider that person someone who is not able to hit a homer ever in his life. Look at who criticizes the power hitters in the game and what we do. It’s either a pitcher or somebody that never played the game. Think about it. You don’t know that feeling. You don’t know what it takes to hit a homer off a guy who throws 95 miles per hour. You don’t know anything about it. And if you don’t know anything about it, [shut up]. [Shut up]. Seriously. If you don’t know anything about it, [shut up], because that is another level.”

Ortiz continued to say this:

“Of course as a pitcher you’re not going to like it if I take you deep, but after I do it, suck it up, man. Take it like a man. I don’t mind anybody doing anything when you strike me out or get myself out. You’re never going to see me criticizing anybody, because you know what? Whatever you do out there, you just motivate me. You just motivate me. If I take you deep and I pimp the [expletive] out of it that should be motivation for you to try to get me out in my next at-bat, instead of just talking [expletive]. That’s the way I see it.” 

Now this is where my issue comes in. Ortiz did later say that pitchers are allowed to fist pump and shoot fake arrows and all that stuff, and he’s right, but he also said there was “no babysitting” and “no crying” in baseball. Really? Like Ortiz has done for years every time someone has thrown him inside or he struck out on a pitch he didn’t agree with? Come on Papi, really? You’re telling people not to cry? Seriously? I don’t even have it in me to rant about this, this one wrote itself.

What are your thoughts? Leave them down below or tweet me @GreedyStripes.

My Thoughts on Goose Gossage’s Thoughts on Jose Bautista, Yoenis Cespedes & “Nerds”

Excuse me while I leave my Yankees bias and “homerism” at the door because Goose, “you wrong buddy.” On a serious note though Goose Gossage was interviewed last week by ESPN New York’s very own Andrew Marchand and in the interview the former Yankees pitcher was very critical of some of the game’s best both in the front office and on the playing field. Gossage got to share his thoughts so I figured I would share mine as well, because why not?

First this article means nothing if you don’t know exactly what Gossage said so to quote the article the Goose said “(Jose) Bautista is a f***ing disgrace to the game. He’s embarrassing to all the Latin players, whoever played before him. Throwing his bat and acting like a fool, like all those guys in Toronto. (Yoenis) Cespedes same thing… Ryan Braun is a f***ing steroid user. He gets a standing ovation on Opening Day in Milwaukee. How do you explain that to your kid after throwing people under the bus and lying through his f***ing teeth? They don’t have anyone passing the f***ing torch to these people.”

Grammar nazi here, but Bautista is AN f***king disgrace to the game, not A disgrace to the game. Why is Goose going after Cespedes and Bautista directly? Has David Ortiz never flipped a bat? And why just Latin players, did Colby Rasmus not flip a bat against the Yankees in the AL Wild Card Game in 2015? Has about a million instances of bat flipping happened before Bautista did it? Be consistent, don’t just pick and choose who you attack. Braun is a steroid user and got a standing ovation, Alex Rodriguez is also a steroid user and got plenty of them in 2015. He also got a gig covering postseason and World Series baseball for Fox. No mention of this, no mention of Barry Bonds and his standing ovations he receives in San Francisco or his new gig in Miami as a hitting coach. Again, consistency.

But wait, there was more. “The game is becoming a freaking joke because of the nerds who are running it. I’ll tell you what has happened, these guys played rotisserie baseball at Harvard or wherever the f*** they went and they thought they figured the f***ing game out. They don’t know s***. A bunch of f***king nerds running the game. You can’t slide into second base. You can’t take out the f***ing catcher because Buster Posey was in the wrong position and they are going to change all the rules. You can’t pitch inside anymore. I’d like to knock some of these f***ers on their ass and see how they would do against pitchers in the old days.”

I don’t think the nerds you are referring to, the ones that rely on analytics and sabermetric stats to tell the tale rather than the eye test, had anything to do with Chase Utley sliding into second base and hurting the Mets Ruben Tejada and ending his season. The media and in turn the Commissioner Rob Manfred has everything to do with that, not sabermetricians. The same can be said for the catcher rule, what does looking at how a certain player would perform in a vacuum or how he stacks up against the league in certain categories, basically what sabermetrics does, have anything to do with Buster Posey getting hurt? Nothing, you’re right. Pitching inside can be more prevelant than ever, FYI, because the hitters go up to the plate in basically full chain arm and won’t feel a thing… so go ahead and pitch inside, no one cares. You’re just upset you couldn’t intimidate hitters and you would have to rely on your talent rather than your head games, that’s okay. And one final note, you’ll catch more bee’s with honey than you will with crap and the use of vulgarity makes you lose all credibility with some whether what you are saying is 100% accurate and correct or not.

You’re a Hall of Famer and an ambassador not only to the New York Yankees but to the entire game of Major League Baseball but you sure aren’t acting like it right now. You’re better than this Goose!