We have to find out why a clubhouse containing grumpy old veterans fell apart the way it did!

Right….?

Holy crap that was quick.

Geoff got something wrong, which happens when you’re pumping out as much stuff as he is. I don’t really read his blog and I’m not here to blindly defend him, but I have no qualms with taking his explanation at face value.

I legitimately believe that there are players on this team who resent Ichiro. And while it’s annoying to read about it and I wish it would go away, I’d still say it’s fairly newsworthy, considering the big contract and “face of the franchise” status that Ichiro has carried since 2001.

I present to you, screenshots of his story.

Shot #1
Shot #2
Shot #3

…is whether or not jealousy towards Ichiro was a big factor in the M’s suckage in 2008?

Yes, I confused the issue about the team meeting. But the broader issue, the real one, is whether or not lingering jealousies/resentment towards Ichiro were part of the problems that plagued this team in 2008. According to the people I’ve spoken to, they were. And I’m told that some of the players who had problems with him this year were the same ones who had those problems in 2007 and helped prompt that team meeting in Florida to be called.

Sounds like Baker’s doing his job as a beat reporter, really — focusing on details that may or may not be important and running with that side story. My problem with this particular story is – it seems that Baker’s whole emphasis was on the fact that there was some perceived danger that Ichiro was in, and this on-again, off-again “team meeting” was indeed supposed to take aim at removing this danger.

If it rose to the point that there was real threat to Ichiro in 2007 that persisted in 2008, then the front office had to have known about it, and the players involved would have — SHOULD have — been removed from that situation.

Players talk shit about each other all the time. Players resent Ichiro and players love Ichiro. If there’s a real threat, then report the hell out of it and make some real noise about it. If not, then don’t take negative clubhouse chemistry so far that you’re making up something that just isn’t true — or leading others to believe that there’s something happening that isn’t.

We can debate chemistry and its importance all we want — but the more pressing matter here is the fact that there was some real, perceived danger towards Ichiro that was reported. The “truth” that Baker needs to ascertain is just this. I don’t feel like he has.

RH: Did you ever play ball, Max?
                   
MM: No, never have. But I make it a little more fun to watch, you see. And after today, whether you’re a goat or a hero you’re gonna make me a great story. See you around.

But wade through the comments on any of their posts and they’re as crude, ignorant and boorish as any stereotype of a sports fan you can come up with.

I take exception to being called ignorant.