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It's like Buster Olney said,

"So we're supposed to believe this was about Papelbon, who was once suspended for grabbing his crotch in the direction of booing fans, wanting Harper to play the game the right way? Not a chance..."

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Sorry a crotch grab at opposing fans does not make you a bad ball player. Imagine if that was the standards for Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Bob Gibson, Cy Young etc etc.

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Who said it makes you a bad ball player? It makes you a dip****.

Dude are you related to Papelbon or something?

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No. I'm a Red Sox fan.

I did have season tix to the Portland Sea Dogs so I watched him, Lester, Hanley, Youk, Pedey etc come through.

So I am biased. I don't deny it,

And Buster Olney said a crotch grab makes you a bad ball player. I didn't say you said that.

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Buster Olney said a crotch grab makes you a bad ball player. I didn't say you said that.

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I hope BO commented somewhere else and that's not how you interpreted his quote from above. That would be some incredible A+ homerism.

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This thread is in real jeopardy of turning into shyt.

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Goddammit, you'll run the thread out til the end, just in case a 1 in 1000 event occurs and something good happens! It's an unwritten rule of TexAgs!

This idea that ty cobb and babe ruth ran as fast as they could down to 1st base on routine popups is amusing. Its the baseball equivalent of "when i was a kid i had to walk 10 miles uphill both ways to school"

I'm not wanting to fight over this. In fact, I think, this has been a very decent discussion. This is Texags where most discussions devolve into personal attacks.

But what are your interpretations on what Buster said?

He said someone that crotch grabs at the crowd doesn't have any credibility on playing the game the right way and that excuse is BS. He's right. This is not a difficult interpretation. He spelled it out. Literally.

Danny - you know there are many a great player that gave the finger to the opposing crowd. I listed a group who were known to do that. Were they not playing the game the right way?

Do you think Papelbon was upset because Harper wasn't playing the game the right way? Or perhaps there was another reason and he was just waiting for an excuse, however weak-assed?

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Danny - you know there are many a great player that gave the finger to the opposing crowd. I listed a group who were known to do that. Were they not playing the game the right way?

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I would say they don't have credibilty to call others out for stuff that would have had zero impact on the game.

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Danny - you know there are many a great player that gave the finger to the opposing crowd. I listed a group who were known to do that. Were they not playing the game the right way?

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What does that have to do with Olney's comment? Seriously, this isn't that tough to comprehend.

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Do you think Papelbon was upset because Harper wasn't playing the game the right way?

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I wasn't there. So I can only put the pieces that are known together. We'll likely not know until some ghost writer writes the autobiography.

That said:

I think it was more about what was said to the press (post Machado incident) than what happen on the field.

Which was Olney's point if you actually read what he wrote. Not that Papelbon was a bad player, wherever you pulled that nonsense from.

And when I said bad ball player, that is not the same as untalented ball player.

Someone who doesn't play the game the "right way", which I hope we all agree is a very loose definition.

If Pap dressed down Puig, I doubt there'd be much consternation over it.

Do you have a link beyond the quote posted? I responded to that quote.

Is this a baseball thread or a sewing circle, because it feels like arguing over a point you say you most likely agree with - which is that Papelbon was mad about something else?

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Do you have a link beyond the quote posted? I responded to that quote.

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http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/buster-olney/insider/post?id=11282


And Papelbon has criticized Puig quite a bit.

Dude... Olney's comment could not possibly have less to do with Papelbon's talent or ability or results. Everyone else on this thread has interpreted his comment well, but just to add on: he's saying that if Papelbon wants to have the credibility to make comments about "the right way" to play the game, he shouldn't do things like grab his crotch towards opposing fans.

I appreciate your loyalty, man, but damn...

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Is this a baseball thread or a sewing circle, because it feels like arguing over a point you say you most likely agree with - which is that Papelbon was mad about something else?

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I've said that repeatedly.

I started the thread with zero knowledge of what happened.

Bits and pieces have become evident.

Sides were taken from page one. Some on Pap's side, some on Harper's. I stayed as neutral as possible (as a Pap fan).

But the beginning of this keeps pointing back to the Machado incident - and its aftermath.

But if the premise of an argumement is pointing fingers at the "right way" to play the game, it is focusing on the wrong premise.

Just my observations.

Then instead of treating us to post after post of arguing about Olney, it takes about 10 seconds to find and read what he wrote.

Huh?

I don't feel like Say Chowdah posts Texags the right way.

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I don't feel like Say Chowdah posts Texags the right way.

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You're an idiot and I'm inserting a laughing crying icon to prove it!

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NL LEAST VALUABLE PLAYER (LVP): Jonathan Papelbon, Washington Nationals
Some people just have that special knack in life. They check into their hotel, and the elevators are out of order. They order a steak, and the kitchen just ran out. They pull onto the highway, and the construction crews appear out of nowhere. I'm guessing Jonathan Papelbon must be one of those people. Consider his last five seasons. He was the closer on the 2011 Red Sox team that made a nine-game lead disappear in September. Then he headed for Philadelphia, where a team that had won five straight division titles went 56 games under .500 while he was in town. Next stop: D.C., where the Nationals had a three-game lead in the NL East after he saved his first game -- and then lost 12 games in the standings in the next two months.
To be fair, very little of that was his fault, although giving up five runs in his final outing, and choking the face of the franchise, all in a span of about 14 minutes, was definitely the stuff LVPs are made of. But if this not-so-prestigious award epitomizes the opposite of "valuable," I think Papelbon is our man. He just has that knack.

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