It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World!
Released in 1963 and starring Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney among other names of an all star cast, this cinema classic follows the story of a dying thief leaving behind clues to a treasure. All characters involve make a cross country dash in order to seek out this revealed prize. A 2001 reboot, the film Rat Race starring another all-star cast that included Whoopi Goldberg, Seth Green and Jon Lovitz among other names, makes light of this same type of story. In the end of both, no one succeeds in recovering the treasure, and friendships are formed in the process. The moral of the story being that riches make people do crazy things for it.
Similarly, this moral can be applied to the game of baseball. Our Houston Astros have been having a rough time to start the month of May. The bullpen is stumbling and our bats are somehow freezing up again. Despite winter being gone into the setting sun, those bats have got some icicles on them. Anyone not named Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa are not hitting for well enough average or OPS. Sure, some clutch hits here and there. However, not very many. At least, not enough to win games.
And then, there's Evan Gattis. He's still my people's champion, but I honestly can't really say that he is any of yours right now. At this point, I don't really blame any of you if that is the case. Whether it's an unknown physical ailment, the mental anguish of stewing over previous at-bats between innings from not being able to take the field, or even at this point a curse from some voodoo witch doctor somewhere, the bear has had a serious statistical fall from grace, and it is the biggest nightmare I have ever had to witness.
Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of other more important things in this world to feel nightmarish about, for sure. But this is the absolute worst case scenario that could have happened for El Oso Blanco in 2018. Not that it would EVER be welcomed, but it also couldn't come at a worse possible year. That being his final one before being due to hit free agency next winter. He, along with Dallas Keuchel and Marwin Gonzalez, are all scheduled for it. Quite frankly, all three of them, along with some others, are looking like they won't last much longer.
I reiterate, this is the biggest sports nightmare that I could be witnessing right now. Often, I yearn for someone to just pinch me and wake me up from this. But like everyone else, I have to deal with the harsh reality that this is all really going down. I'm sure the CDH crowd is all kinds of happy with themselves right now. Some have even gone so far as to harass me across social media. I've taken my own steps to weed it out. At the same time, I'm growing incredibly weary on this baseball season so far, and it's only the beginning of May.
To that end, none of us should really be going into the kind of frenzy that characters in the film do to find the proverbial treasure. We're all scrambling to find answers, and even going so far as to be armchair GM's, making decisions that aren't ours to make. This includes what to do with Gatty. I'm going to say something I thought I'd never say, but I wouldn't be completely against the idea of him being sent to AAA Fresno for a week to 10 days to get his head and bat right. In his stead, you can give Tyler White and/or Kyle Tucker a shot at some big show action.
That is all assuming, of course, that Hinch would still refuse to play him in the field at catcher or first base, like he naturally still plays. One thing the CDH tries to spin is that he can't play a position on the field, which is false. OR that a DH is just supposed to go up there and hit 3-5 times a game. ALSO FALSE. Players can't naturally go from a fielding position to just pinch hitting multiple times a game and then stewing between innings. Many of them, I'm sure Gattis included, feel that it sets them up for failure.
There are changes that can be made that can get this team jolted. They don't have to be huge changes, just shifting some things here and there. And NO FANS, no one is getting DFA'd this early in the season, Gattis included. This has not reached Carlos Gomez territory be any means. Nor will it. Like so many others, he is in a bad slump. But even those get broken. Just like the hot ones will have their stumbles. There is still way to much of a season to be played. No towels need to be thrown, and no mad dashes to find shiny treasure need to take place.
Stop the madness, fans. Our boys are gonna be alright. By extension, we're gonna be alright also!
Similarly, this moral can be applied to the game of baseball. Our Houston Astros have been having a rough time to start the month of May. The bullpen is stumbling and our bats are somehow freezing up again. Despite winter being gone into the setting sun, those bats have got some icicles on them. Anyone not named Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa are not hitting for well enough average or OPS. Sure, some clutch hits here and there. However, not very many. At least, not enough to win games.
And then, there's Evan Gattis. He's still my people's champion, but I honestly can't really say that he is any of yours right now. At this point, I don't really blame any of you if that is the case. Whether it's an unknown physical ailment, the mental anguish of stewing over previous at-bats between innings from not being able to take the field, or even at this point a curse from some voodoo witch doctor somewhere, the bear has had a serious statistical fall from grace, and it is the biggest nightmare I have ever had to witness.
Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of other more important things in this world to feel nightmarish about, for sure. But this is the absolute worst case scenario that could have happened for El Oso Blanco in 2018. Not that it would EVER be welcomed, but it also couldn't come at a worse possible year. That being his final one before being due to hit free agency next winter. He, along with Dallas Keuchel and Marwin Gonzalez, are all scheduled for it. Quite frankly, all three of them, along with some others, are looking like they won't last much longer.
I reiterate, this is the biggest sports nightmare that I could be witnessing right now. Often, I yearn for someone to just pinch me and wake me up from this. But like everyone else, I have to deal with the harsh reality that this is all really going down. I'm sure the CDH crowd is all kinds of happy with themselves right now. Some have even gone so far as to harass me across social media. I've taken my own steps to weed it out. At the same time, I'm growing incredibly weary on this baseball season so far, and it's only the beginning of May.
To that end, none of us should really be going into the kind of frenzy that characters in the film do to find the proverbial treasure. We're all scrambling to find answers, and even going so far as to be armchair GM's, making decisions that aren't ours to make. This includes what to do with Gatty. I'm going to say something I thought I'd never say, but I wouldn't be completely against the idea of him being sent to AAA Fresno for a week to 10 days to get his head and bat right. In his stead, you can give Tyler White and/or Kyle Tucker a shot at some big show action.
That is all assuming, of course, that Hinch would still refuse to play him in the field at catcher or first base, like he naturally still plays. One thing the CDH tries to spin is that he can't play a position on the field, which is false. OR that a DH is just supposed to go up there and hit 3-5 times a game. ALSO FALSE. Players can't naturally go from a fielding position to just pinch hitting multiple times a game and then stewing between innings. Many of them, I'm sure Gattis included, feel that it sets them up for failure.
There are changes that can be made that can get this team jolted. They don't have to be huge changes, just shifting some things here and there. And NO FANS, no one is getting DFA'd this early in the season, Gattis included. This has not reached Carlos Gomez territory be any means. Nor will it. Like so many others, he is in a bad slump. But even those get broken. Just like the hot ones will have their stumbles. There is still way to much of a season to be played. No towels need to be thrown, and no mad dashes to find shiny treasure need to take place.
Stop the madness, fans. Our boys are gonna be alright. By extension, we're gonna be alright also!
Original Photo Credit: Rick Yeatts of Getty Images
The bear isn't dead yet, folks. And there's still life in that bat. It just needs to be awoken.
Comments
Post a Comment