Roch Kubatko is a Jock Sniffing Turd
And other things that have pissed me off lately.
First things first, here is where Roch Kubatko demonstrates his
aforementioned Jock-Sniffing-Turdiness, in a blog entry about Jay
Gibbons' suspension for receiving illegal PEDs. The gist is that
Gibbons should be quickly forgiven because he was a man about it all,
took responsibility, even "offer[ed] a plausible explanation."
Sure, Gibbons took responsibility, now that he got caught. Once the
investigators back you into a corner and say, "here are the credit
card receipts, here is the proof that you bought all these illegal
drugs" it's easy to admit you did it. As for offering a plausible
explanation, well...Gibbons said he took a doctor's advice, to recover
from injuries more quickly. [Expect this excuse to get very popular
soon]. Was Gibbons suffering from any of the following; multiple
sclerosis, fibromyalgia, Crohn's disease, renal failure, short bowel
syndrome, idiopathic short stature? No. Oh. Then why did his doctor
recommend it? Probably because it was a prescription mill in another
state that was selling the stuff over the internet.
Not to mention this sampling of Jay Gibbons quotes from the past few
years:
November 2005: "We want to end the problem now and get back to playing
ball and not worrying about steroids every day."(The problem being
PED/steroid use).
October 2006: "I have passed every test administered by Major League
Baseball over all the years. I have never taken anabolic steroids. And
I am not going to dignify these claims and accusations with any
further response." (Responding to Grimsley).
That's not "taking responsibility." That's "choosing one's words
carefully" and, less precisely, "lying" and "being a dishonest shit."
But we're supposed to forgive him for this, eh Roch? No. No, I think
not. But I think what we are supposed to do is understand that you
don't want to take a hard line with any of the players, that you want
to keep being a warehouse mouthpiece, that you want to keep cracking
lame jokes on your blog and not knowing much about what makes a
baseball player, or team, any good. Roch Kubatko: jock sniffing turd.
(Note, I am going to keep saying that...Roch Kubatko is a jock
sniffing turd...because my sincere hope is to somehow link the terms
"jock sniffing turd" and "Roch Kubatko" in Google searches, so that if
someone types in Roch Kubatko they will see references to "jock
sniffing turd," or that if...and it could happen...they type in "jock
fans).
Now, today, Gibbons says he's going to try to win the fans back. To
wit: "All I can do is go out there and try to play good baseball and
try to win them back. That's my goal."
Given that Gibbons appears to not yet have actually played good
baseball at any time in the past several years, I must assume one of
two things. First, he has not tried to play good baseball. In that
case, the fact that he is going to try this year should make all the
difference.
On the other hand, it seems entirely possible that a .314 OBP and a
101 OPS+ is exactly what Jay's capable of, since that what he has done
in 779 ML AB, and that trying to play good baseball isn't going to
make an ass-hair's width of difference.
Some other random thoughts.
Really looking forward to that Mitchell report. I mean really. I just
hope Andy MacPhail gets some of his tradin' done before that thing
comes out. The more I think about it, though, the more I realize there
is, above all, one player I do not want to see on the Mitchell Report:
Pedro.
Yes, that Pedro. Why? Because he is, without a doubt, the best pitcher
I have ever seen, the best pitcher I will probably ever see, and in
the running for best at doing whatever it is he does in ANY category
that I've ever seen. I want to believe that the weird, brilliant,
crazy, genius Pedro was real. I want to believe that the ERA+ of 291
(TWO. NINE. ONE. GOOD GOD THAT IS INSANE. SANDY KOUFAX NEVER CRACKED
200!!!!!!) in 2000 was real, untainted. I want to believe that he was
just that freakin' good. I want to believe that at least one natural
talent went out there against all those 'roided and leaded hitters and
made them look like fools. Even when those hitters were playing for my
beloved Orioles.
It boils down to this; the few times I saw Pedro pitch in person (and
many many times on TV) I genuinely felt I was watching somebody do the
thing he was born to do, and doing it inimitably. That's rare. I don't
want the Mitchell report to cheapen that. I really don't.
Posted by LastBestAngryMan at 9:13 PM
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