Like someone farted in church...

[Inside Pitch]

This is quite the read..

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2021/02/24/jarred-kelenic-mariners-prospect-service-time-manipulation/4568463001/

Dipoto apologized to the Mariners’ players before their first full-squad workout Monday for Mather’s comments, insisting it did not reflect the way the organization truly felt about their players.

How was it received?

“Strange,’’ Kelenic said. “It was literally like someone farted in church. That is the exact expression on everybody’s face.’’...

 

[Blarg]

His lack of time in the minor leagues does not bode well for his argument but then the Mariners are not acting in good faith waving a contract in his face then refusing to even give him the proverbial cup of coffee for refusing to sign. 

If Kelenic doesn't come out of the gates hot in AA or AAA to start the season then the Mariners are justified in the wait and see game. But Dipoto and the Mariners org has really damaged their own reputation. I could see Kelenic getting traded early in his career by holding out for free agency. 

[Inside Pitch]

4 hours ago, Blarg said:

His lack of time in the minor leagues does not bode well for his argument but then the Mariners are not acting in good faith waving a contract in his face then refusing to even give him the proverbial cup of coffee for refusing to sign. 

If Kelenic doesn't come out of the gates hot in AA or AAA to start the season then the Mariners are justified in the wait and see game. But Dipoto and the Mariners org has really damaged their own reputation. I could see Kelenic getting traded early in his career by holding out for free agency. 

I'd also argue that JD's comments about it being a very rare thing for him to have made that jump to MLB are correct, but the thing almost reads like an arbitration hearing where he's saying hold up kid, you're not that good.

Kelenic is pretty clearly a confident guy so, you can see why Mathers made that comment but, unless he's a lying POS then it's hard to believe he wasn't told he would have been called up or that moving forward he will be kept down by refusing to sign an extension.  At this point it won't matter, the MLBPA will run with it and use him for their gain in the coming CBA battle, even Kelenic seems to be aware of this -- he also seems to be perfectly ok with it. 

To his credit the kid seems to be separating the fans from the front office but when you have a large group of prospects all coming up together this isn't exactly the sort of warm and fuzzy stuff you want to see them talking about.   

[Lou]

But the Mariners...

[yk9001]

I know this board has a hate-boner for Dipoto that won't quit, but this stems from the upwardly-failing CEO Mather

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/30945058/make-amends-seattle-mariners-ceo-kevin-mather-take-back-45-disastrous-minutes-disrespectful-words

[Blarg]

29 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

I's also argue that JD's comments about it being a very rare thing for him to have made that jump to MLB, but the thing almost reads like an arbitration hearing where he's saying hold up kid, you're not that good.

Kelenic is pretty clearly a confident guy so, you can see why Mathers made that comment but, unless he's a lying POS then it's hard to believe Kelenic wasn't told he would have been called up or that moving forward he will be kept down by refusing to sign an extension.  At this point it won't matter, the MLBPA will run with it and use him for their gain in the coming CBA battle, even Kelenic seems to be aware of this -- he also seems to be perfectly ok with it. 

To his credit the kid seems to be separating the fans from the front office but when you have a large group of prospects all coming up together this isn't exactly the sort of warm and fuzzy stuff you want to see them talking about.   

Let's flip the argument around to its not all about the player. The Mariners know he is a talent and they have very few negotiating years once he hits the majors. The kid, without much of a minor league resume wants to play now.

Begin argument.

At the start of last year's disastrous mess the Mariners certainly didn't see themselves in any divisional race if you want to be honest. Burning a year of eligibility for them in 60 games makes no sense unless they can get something out of it.

So they negotiate with Kelenik to sign a mlb contract at lesser money than he would get IF he succeeded in the majors (no guarantees) in exchange for fast tracking a guy that really hasn't earned a spot.

Kelenik and his agent see potential dollars lost and balk. Then Kelenik shifts the narrative that ownership are bad guys for waving a carrot and, without a true minor league season, claims he could have put the team in the playoffs. That's a bit of hubris.

Honestly I don't think Kelenik is holding any high ground. As much as I want to burn Dipoto he really did nothing wrong trying to work a deal for both sides. 

 

[failos]

Sounds like a malcontent 

[Inside Pitch]

 

4 minutes ago, Blarg said:

Let's flip the argument around to its not all about the player. The Mariners know he is a talent and they have very few negotiating years once he hits the majors. The kid, without much of a minor league resume wants to play now.

Begin argument.

At the start of last year's disastrous mess the Mariners certainly didn't see themselves in any divisional race if you want to be honest. Burning a year of eligibility for them in 60 games makes no sense unless they can get something out of it.

So they negotiate with Kelenik to sign a mlb contract at lesser money than he would get IF he succeeded in the majors (no guarantees) in exchange for fast tracking a guy that really hasn't earned a spot.

Kelenik and his agent see potential dollars lost and balk. Then Kelenik shifts the narrative that ownership are bad guys for waving a carrot and, without a true minor league season, claims he could have put the team in the playoffs. That's a bit of hubris.

Honestly I don't think Kelenik is holding any high ground. As much as I want to burn Dipoto he really did nothing wrong trying to work a deal for both sides. 

 

Yep, like I said -- you can see why Mathers said what he did about the kid being confident.   And like I said, JD's comments about him making the sort of jump he's talking about are spot on.   Also the M's plan to try to lock guys up early would have been a coup for them had they been able to get guys on board. 

This Mathers thing is a huge monkey wrench for them.   I don't think JD is a victim here by any stretch but he's been handed a shit sandwich.

[eligrba]

If I remember correctly, didn't Dipoto also have a clubhouse talk when he was the Angels GM?  Hmmm, I don't exactly remember how it went, but I remember how it ended.

 

The fucking quitter quit. 

 

We must do everything possible to keep Dipoto and Servais in key roles with the Mariners allowing them to continue working their magic. 

[eligrba]

6 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

I don't think JD is a victim here by any stretch but he's been handed a shit sandwich.

I don't think JD is victim but complicit.  JD added the condiments to the shit sandwich.

[eligrba]

1 hour ago, Inside Pitch said:

This is quite the read..

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2021/02/24/jarred-kelenic-mariners-prospect-service-time-manipulation/4568463001/

Dipoto apologized to the Mariners’ players before their first full-squad workout Monday for Mather’s comments, insisting it did not reflect the way the organization truly felt about their players.

How was it received?

“Strange,’’ Kelenic said. “It was literally like someone farted in church. That is the exact expression on everybody’s face.’’...

 

Minasian should try and reunite Ward with Dipoto by taking on the malcontent Kelenic.

[Inside Pitch]

3 minutes ago, eligrba said:

I don't think JD is victim but complicit. 

Lorena Martin would agree with you.

[Lou]

18 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

I don't think JD is a victim here by any stretch but he's been handed a shit sandwich.

Seeing as he left one here, it's only fair.

[yk9001]

8 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

This Mathers thing is a huge monkey wrench for them.

The Mathers of the world are a feature, not a bug, in pro sports management.

Dennis Kuhl was a drinking buddy of Arte's back in the day at U of A.  Anything that Mathers said, you don't think has been said a million times over a couple of cases of Coors Light at Casa Moreno?

Or by Jackie Autry?

[T.G.]

Maybe the Mariners should start over and move to OKC and drop Dipoto off in the desert along the way.

[Stradling]

2 minutes ago, T.G. said:

Maybe the Mariners should start over and move to OKC and drop Dipoto off in the desert along the way.

Is there a desert between Seattle and OKC?

[Stradling]

3 minutes ago, yk9001 said:

The Mathers of the world are a feature, not a bug, in pro sports management.

Dennis Kuhl was a drinking buddy of Arte's back in the day at U of A.  Anything that Mathers said, you don't think has been said a million times over a couple of cases of Coors Light at Casa Moreno?

Or by Jackie Autry?

Or by any group of guys who sit around and talk shit, whether they are rich and own sports teams or not?  

[eligrba]

7 minutes ago, yk9001 said:

The Mathers of the world are a feature, not a bug, in pro sports management.

Dennis Kuhl was a drinking buddy of Arte's back in the day at U of A.  Anything that Mathers said, you don't think has been said a million times over a couple of cases of Coors Light at Casa Moreno?

Or by Jackie Autry?

You missed the point.

[Inside Pitch]

3 hours ago, yk9001 said:

The Mathers of the world are a feature, not a bug, in pro sports management.

Dennis Kuhl was a drinking buddy of Arte's back in the day at U of A.  Anything that Mathers said, you don't think has been said a million times over a couple of cases of Coors Light at Casa Moreno?

Or by Jackie Autry?

I highly doubt Arte Moreno is dismissive of Latino players because of language barriers like Mathers is, or racist as JD has been accused of being... but sure.

Not sure if you think you're bringing some great insight to the table, but I'd agree that it's likely very common that others in his position also hold a similar view of those who they ultimately profit off of. 

But if your entire point is - "everyone does it, including the Angels".  LOL, okay.. great..  Thankfully for all their recent fuck ups they have managed not to say it out loud.

The M's get to wear it.

 

[Inside Pitch]

46 minutes ago, failos said:

Sounds like a malcontent 

Maybe, but that fart in church line was golden.   

[Stradling]

@Inside Pitch have you heard an interview with Julio Rodriguez?  When this story broke the morning guys, don’t know who they are on MLB radio, played an interview with him in English from LAST spring training.  You could obviously tell he wasn’t speaking his native tongue but you could understand every point he was making. There wasn’t any real language barrier.  He was as fluent as “fuck it, let’s pitch” Ervin who at that point had been in the league for five years. 

[bruin5]

2 hours ago, Inside Pitch said:

This is quite the read..

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2021/02/24/jarred-kelenic-mariners-prospect-service-time-manipulation/4568463001/

Dipoto apologized to the Mariners’ players before their first full-squad workout Monday for Mather’s comments, insisting it did not reflect the way the organization truly felt about their players.

How was it received?

“Strange,’’ Kelenic said. “It was literally like someone farted in church. That is the exact expression on everybody’s face.’’...

 

Mather is basically the organization.  How can DiPoto say that Mather’s words don’t reflect the organization? 

[yk9001]

4 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Or by any group of guys who sit around and talk shit, whether they are rich and own sports teams or not?  

Yeah, guys sit around and drink beer, and talk shit while sitting at BWW, living room, or home poker game.  They don't employ, or manage the people they are talking shit about.

Its another thing when management thinks so poorly of a prized 20-year old Dominican prospect that practically the first thing out of the CEO's mouth is that "his English is not tremendous".  For fuck's sake.  You mean to tell me that's what you come up with to describe your prospect?  English being his *second* language?

He calls one of his pitchers "very boring".

He calls Kyle Seager "overpaid".

He talks about possibly breaking CBA rules regarding service time.

Oh, and this shithead caused the organization to pay out half a mil in sexual harassment hush money.

He pretty much breaks every tenet of Management 101.  And this isn't some far flung VP of communications or some sort.  This is the CEO.

 

Management of an organization that is held in a public trust should be held to a much higher standard than a couple of assholes standing around a campfire drinking beers.

[T.G.]

21 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Is there a desert between Seattle and OKC?

They can take the long way and fly over Nevada.  It would be worth it.

[Inside Pitch]

6 minutes ago, Stradling said:

@Inside Pitch have you heard an interview with Julio Rodriguez?  When this story broke the morning guys, don’t know who they are on MLB radio, played an interview with him in English from LAST spring training.  You could obviously tell he wasn’t speaking his native tongue but you could understand every point he was making. There wasn’t any real language barrier.  He was as fluent as “fuck it, let’s pitch” Ervin who at that point had been in the league for five years. 

I haven't but I've read in multiple stories that his English is quite good.