StanSpeak: Speak For Yourself Edition

Stanley steams through an interview with Bugs and Cranks on a wide range of issues. It's got lots of interesting stuff, including why he hates blogs almost as much as agents. Read the whole thing. I'm just going to note a few things that I thought as I read.

1) He complains about HGH and the opposition to blood testing. He makes some great points, especially about how blood testing is probably a better alternative than whipping your dick out in front of someone else to pee. But I guess I'd follow up with him on the need to test for HGH given how the Mitchell Report and the panel of scientists who testified before the House found it to basically be useless for baseball skills. Seems to me that if they want to prevent its usage, they need to educate teh players. Point out that it doesn't work, and that the long-term health costs (which that medical panel also discussed) makes it a stupid thing to take.

2) He discusses the payroll and the "40% increase" this season. This is the exact point I was worried with when I started the whole "Lerner is CHEEEEP!" crap. My concern is that it would allow the team to trumpet things like that. While true, it's ignoring 1) the halving of the payroll from the season before; 2) what the revenues generated by the team in their new stadium would support. They'll be able to raise the payroll to $80 million and bleat about the near-tripling of the payroll over two years. Valid points, but that's probably still below what the market could support.

3) He talks about bloggers and giving them access. It's an interesting discussion, and I was interested in how he's trying to be proactive with the players, warning them that they're the ones who have to help control what gets reported. In some ways, I guess, this makes the real reporters' jobs harder. If the players are always on guard, it's going to lead to more banality... something baseball has in excess.

4) This is music to my ears: He doesn’t believe in chemistry or character when building a team, unless those things affect how the players swing the bat and throw the ball. It’s only a problem when it hurts what happens on the field. “Too much is made of chemistry. We’ve seen horrible locker rooms succeed and a team of choir boys fail. It takes talent and a great manager to win.”

The focus has to be putting the best 25 men on the field... That's why I've tried to defend Milledge from some of those really stupid charges against him. The jury's still out on Dukes, but that's a different category for me. Like I've said before, I can root for the a-holes, but not the sociopaths.