The Werth Hate Fest Continues

by Bill Baer on July 20th, 2010
Posted in Media, MLB, Philadelphia Phillies, Sabermetrics | Print | 70 Comments »

I’m of the school of thought that trolls are to be ignored and never taken head-on. When a troll shows up in the comments here, their posts are discarded as soon as they are seen. Usually, the gimmick is extinguished and the troll moves on to the next target. However, every now and then, a troll needs to be challenged — especially one with influence — as an example to the acolytes. That’s right, sometimes the Glenn Becks of this world need to be acknowledged and taken down systematically.

The troll who will be acknowledged here is Mandy Housenick of TheMorningCall.com’s blog The Phillies Files. I have to assume it’s trolling because it’s not journalism. And her writing is clearly looking for a reaction of some sort. She has two posts in which she uses the tired anti-Werth talking points: one and two. I’m going to go through them FJM-style. If you read Saturday’s article, you are probably familiar with the arguments so this may be a rehashing for you. But I promise to throw in some snark to make it interesting.

Her words will be in bold and my responses will follow in regular typeface.

Now I’m just going to put it out there — the Phillies should trade Jayson Werth. I don’t care that they’ll get two first-round draft picks for him when he signs with some other team at the end of the season. He needs to go — now.

The guy isn’t producing, and quite frankly, players usually have their best years when they’re playing for a contract. They see dollar signs, and I can’t blame them for having some extra pick-me-up in their step. But Werth doesn’t have that, and that’s worrisome.

Werth’s .376 wOBA is six one-thousandths behind his wOBA the previous two years (.382). If you’re not familiar with wOBA, click here. Saying that Werth “isn’t producing” is flat out wrong. Even his isolated power of .222 is barely behind that of 2008 and ’09 (.225 and.238, respectively).

You could say that his defense has gotten worse. His -6.0 UZR/150 this year is well behind his 7.4 mark last year. But that would require putting faith in small samples of UZR data — not recommended.

In terms of statistical significance, you can’t say his power is down. You can’t say he’s walking less or striking out more. You can’t say he’s swinging at bad pitches or making less contact.

He has an .873 OPS. His OPS was .879 last year and .861 the year before. By any statistical measure you use, you cannot legitimately say that Werth is “not producing”. Sure, he’s slumped, but what hitter doesn’t slump?

If I’m someone running a sportsbook, I see that I would be able to make a lot of money off of people betting against Werth. Much more profitable than inducing a bet on football.

Remember how he got picked off yesterday? Shouldn’t happen.

He has been picked off once this year. Shane Victorino, Chase Utley, and Jimmy Rollins have also been picked off once this year. Last year, Rollins was picked off five times; Victorino four; Werth three; Pedro Feliz twice; and six other players once. If anything, the Phillies — and Werth — are getting picked off less in 2010 (but that may simply be explained by injuries).

It happens. And when it does happen, it isn’t necessarily the runner’s fault. Sometimes a pitcher has a good move; sometimes the pitcher even balks but the balk isn’t called by the umpires. When it’s the runner’s fault, all that can be done is to admit the mistake and move on. Werth made a mistake, but overall he’s a good runner. One pick-off is not representative of anything.

But what worries me more is the way he acts in the clubhouse, something the organization prides itself in. I read about what he did in Chicago….totally uncalled for.

On Friday night after Ryan Madson gave up a game-winning home run in the eighth, Madson answered reporters’ questions. My understanding is it wasn’t a long interview (everybody can’t be as professional and cordial as Brad Lidge), but Madson stood there and did his job when I’m sure it was the last thing he felt like doing.

The same can’t be said for Werth.

He walked by the crowd of reporters who had just spoken to Madson and said, “Nice interview, guys.”

Nice attitude, Jayson.

The right fielder, who was 0-for-3 with three strikeouts (all looking), refused to answer questions.

Shocking.

He said something to the like of, “I don’t want to talk to you guys.”

The beat writers should never be the story. No journalist should ever be part of the story (unless it’s a story about journalists/journalism of course). If I was Werth, having been lambasted non-stop by the Philly fans and media, I wouldn’t want to talk to them either. Good for Jayson.

Werth, of course, is now getting the evil eye from the media because he didn’t make it easy for them to do their jobs. For the journalists — Housenick, Ryan Lawrence, etc. — to take this personally is totally irresponsible and immature.

If you’re a Phillies beat writer, do your job: get the facts, get whatever quotes you can, and write the story. Don’t inject personal opinion and conjecture into the narrative.

Not Werth. He can’t be bothered. It’s not the first time he’s been nasty to reporters or made unnecessary wise cracks.

Again, this isn’t relevant. And I would highly question the definition of “nasty” and “unnecessary”. In fact, who is the arbiter of what makes a “wise crack” unnecessary?

If a salesman doesn’t sell as many cars as he’s supposed to, his commission goes in the toilet. If I drastically misquote someone, I could be sued, the paper could be sued, I could get fired and lose all future credibility.

That ship has sailed.

If a prosecutor doesn’t present the facts clearly in court, a criminal could go free, and that same lawyer will have to answer reporters’ questions. If a waitress does poorly, she’ll get the lunch shift instead of the Saturday night dinner shift.

And if Werth (or Ryan Howard or Chase Utley) goes into a slump… what?

If Werth (or Howard or Utley) refuses to talk to the reporters… what?

I fail to see the analogy.

Yes, there are times when players choose not to talk to us. Chase Utley rarely talks to us, and when he does, he’s full of cliches. But when he has to, he does, and he doesn’t belittle us.

Jimmy Rollins turns us down, too, but he’s never rude. He just says something like, “Not tonight, guys. Maybe tomorrow.”

Said another way, “I hate Jayson Werth and it’s entirely irrational.”

Housenick tried to link Werth’s alleged lack of production (proven patently false) to his attitude but swung and missed on that attempt.

What this amounts to is character assassination:

Character assassination is an attempt to tarnish a person’s reputation. It may involve exaggeration or manipulation of facts to present an untrue picture of the targeted person. It is a form of defamation and can be a form of ad hominem argument.

As a journalist, Housenick should be well-versed in the lingo above. She and her anti-Werth compatriots in the media should be well aware that what they are doing cannot by any stretch of the imagination be considered legitimate journalism. It’s garbage fit for a garbage website like TMZ. Gossip being presented as fact has no place in the world of journalism. Personal vendettas have no place in the world of journalism.

Moving onto her second entry…

Many of you just aren’t getting it.

Like you didn’t get the idea to do some cursory background research on Werth’s statistics before claiming that “the guy isn’t producing”? Like you didn’t get the idea to forget everything you learned in your college journalism classes?

I’m by no means saying the Phillies should trade Werth because of how he treats the media.

In the previous article, Housenick used two arguments to support a trade of Werth:

1. “The guy isn’t producing” which was proven false.
2. “[Werth] can’t be bothered. It’s not the first time he’s been nasty to reporters or made unnecessary wise cracks.”

If I missed another argument, let me know. But yeah, Mandy definitely did argue that “the Phillies should trade Werth because of how he treats the media”.

I’m saying that his problems go way beyond the way he is with us. He said the F-word to that fan the other day

Athletes use foul language? My word! Someone should back-trace it and report him to the cyber police!

If you ask any legitimate journalist what they hear in sports locker rooms on a daily basis, they will tell you that the F-word is about as common as the word “the” and “Broseph”. (Maybe not that last one.)

Secondly, I’ve seen and heard Howard use the F-word about a hundred times on TV after he strikes out. Let’s ship him out!

Thirdly, is there no “heat of the moment” clause for this kind of criticism? The fan clearly interfered with Werth’s ability to catch a baseball. I’d have been upset, too. In fact, Philly fans in general despise it when fans get in the way as my Twitter feed was full of “stupid fans” tweets during one of the day games against the Cincinnati Reds (the exact date escapes me at the moment).

Again, this is just another dumb excuse to publicly roast Werth.

he hardly looks like he cares out on the field

Prove it. Saying what a player “looks like” is absolutely meaningless. I think Jimmy Rollins looks like he didn’t like the movie The Blind Side. I think Raul Ibanez is both an atheist and a communist. I think Greg Dobbs looks like he voted for Ralph Nader.

Can I prove any of that? No. Therefore, it would be poor judgment on my part to publicize those statements with the authority that they are indeed infallible statements.

and believe me, many other things go on, that as reporters, we can’t talk about.

So don’t talk about it.

Werth’s play isn’t up to par, at bat or in the field.

At bat: false.

In the field: Subject to unreliability of defensive data.

And, his body language reads like he wants to be anywhere but Philadelphia.

Bad journalist! *smacks with newspaper* Bad! Think about what you’ve done!

Jimmy Rollins (and many others) would never say the F-word to a fan. He knows better than that.

Ignoring the stupidity of the argument… this. Or this.

The Phillies always talk about good clubhouse chemistry and respect and playing hard. They get those things from guys such as Ryan Howard, Brad Lidge, Chad Durbin, Shane Victorino, Jimmy Rollins, Raul Ibanez, Chooch, etc. Their attitude with each other, with the fans and with us all factors into the success of the team. They treat each other with respect and us and their fans. The same can’t be said for Werth.

Read the above paragraph again. Housenick led off her column with, “I’m by no means saying the Phillies should trade Werth because of how he treats the media.” Read that above paragraph again.

“I’m by no means saying the Phillies should trade Werth because of how he treats the media.”

Many Phillies fans loved Aaron Rowand because he played so hard and treated fans, his teammates and the media like he’d treat his brother or father or sister. He was a great guy and it was impossible not to respect his tireless work ethic.

Okay? Rowand is completely unrelated; a red herring. And he has a .681 OPS and a -2.0 UZR/150. I’m not sure what Housenick was going for, but rest assured that it was another swing and miss.

Believe it or not, that was how she closed her column. I guess she was really adhering to that inverted pyramid or something…

. . .

If there’s one takeaway to any journalists or any wannabe journalists reading this, it’s: don’t make yourself or your feelings part of the story. You are irrelevant to the story; you are merely reporting facts and fashioning them into an anecdote. If you call yourself a journalist, you should adhere to those guidelines. If you want to go off on tangents, then you need to discard the journalist moniker and you cannot be trusted as a provider of factual information.

That is not to say that journalists can’t provide analysis; they absolutely can. David Murphy of the High Cheese blog for the Philadelphia Daily News, Matt Gelb of the Phillies Zone blog for the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Todd Zolecki of MLB.com’s The Zo Zone do a fantastic job of sticking to the facts and leaving the personal issues at the door.

The downfall of the newspaper industry has led to a transition to online material for many content distributors. While it is true that most bloggers do not have to adhere to journalistic standards, journalists still have to adhere to those guidelines. That’s why Crashburn Alley couldn’t get a press credential before partnering with ESPN (and why I will have to adhere to journalistic standards when utilizing it) and that’s why Housenick can get a press credential with a snap of her fingers. A journalist running a blog is still a journalist.

What Housenick has written on her blog recently cannot in any way, shape or form be considered journalism. It is simply trolling and I don’t even think she did it for the pageviews, sadly.

  1. 70 Responses to “The Werth Hate Fest Continues”

  2. By hk on Jul 20, 2010

    Nicely done, Bill. I find it especially humorous that she claims that Werth looks like he doesn’t care shortly after she nails him for getting pissed and dropping the F-bomb on a fan who interfered and possibly cost the Phils an out.

  3. By Bill Baer on Jul 20, 2010

    Yep, that would be another example of doublethink.

  4. By sean on Jul 20, 2010

    though he was picked off by the catcher not a pitcher, i still agree with you he’s a good baserunner just happens sometimes

    tmz actually does a good job reporting strangely enough (michael jackson death they called it first)

    i thought the same thing about jroll when she said he’d never use the f word. yeah he’ll just call the fans front runners on national tv instead, much better!

    I think the point she and others should be trying to get across as their “argument” is that jayson werth is not consistent, then again consistentence in baseball is one of the harder things to attain!

    Werth was hitting .325 in april which is no where near his true talent level(career .267 hitter). he inevitably hit a slump as most baseball players do and fans, spoiled by the hot start, expected him to continue his hot streak only to be “let down”. combine that with all the “he looks like…” comments and werth becomes the most disliked member of the phillies with people clawing for him to be traded.

    as a final note jimmy rollins since coming back from the dl is batting .184 since june 22nd, over that same span werth is hitting .286 #arbitraryendpoint

  5. By FuquaManuel on Jul 20, 2010

    A fine job. Much needed. It’s almost like she interned at Der Sturmer before she got her current job.

  6. By Jason Ashworth on Jul 20, 2010

    Totally agree with you, brother. She has no place in Journalism. I felt like I was reading the words some bratty little girl who just found you she wasn’t getting a pony for christmas!

  7. By Spencer on Jul 20, 2010

    I don’t agree with most of her points, but actually I believe they should trade werth for two reasons – he could help bolster our pitching in trade and I really do think the lineup needs a big change – and with werth probably out after the season, maybe trading him will have the same effect as trading Bobby abreu did. (One note on your stats – if you look at werth’s numbers from June on, he isn’t producing, but that’s not why I trade him).

    Btw – who is this woman and how do I get her job? How does she cover baseball and not know you can’t trade draft picks in the MLB? Did I miss something?

    Btw

  8. By Chareth on Jul 20, 2010

    I think a lot of the Werth hate stems from his hot streak at the beginning of the season. Despite the fact that, overall, he has been producing within his recent career norms, I think that his very successful first quarter of the season led people to believe that he had developed and improved further offensively from even the 08/09 seasons.

    Now that he has regressed back to his mean, the assumption is that he is dogging it, with perhaps a large dose of cognitive dissonance thrown in for good measure.

  9. By Spencer on Jul 20, 2010

    One more thing – when will journalists realize we don’t care if an athlete won’t talk to them. This is is a bs issue – I hate it when Andy Reid is beaten up because of his media relationship and I hate it here.

  10. By Bill on Jul 20, 2010

    This is another case of “once Werth starts hitting again we’ll forget about this.”

    Maybe we’ll get mad at Victorino soon, or Brad Lidge will start blowing saves so we can complain about him. I don’t even know why you bother breaking this nonsense down. I’m more annoyed at ESPN’s current headline saying Brandon Phillips is the best all-around second basemen, truth be told.

  11. By shel on Jul 20, 2010

    Amen! I didn’t see this when she posted it but just with what you put out there, I can say ridiculous and bad journalism….like you said seems like a hate fest to me:)
    Thanks for the article!

  12. By Wet Luzinski on Jul 20, 2010

    “Nice takedown, Bill.”

    I do wonder why this feels so personalized. Only speculation, but perhaps she’s hiding behind the stuff Werth is really saying to her.

  13. By Rich Baxter on Jul 20, 2010

    What we fail to realize with Mandy is that this is here is that this is Mandy’s opinion, and right or wrong she’s entitled to it.

    The Phils will do what they wish with Werth, but if they can’t get anyone decent then they shouldn’t do a deal just deal him, two prospects (draft choices) for him wouldn’t be a bad thing and I’m a Jason Werth fan.

  14. By Childhood Phan on Jul 20, 2010

    Thank you, thank you. FINALLY a person with rational thoughts in their head, who knows baseball, loves the Phillies, and is sitting at a computer! I feel as though these things should’ve been said 3 wks ago and you should not have had to say them. Someone in the clubhouse should’ve said this. The wild dogs who’ve been chowing down on Werth for the past few wks should’ve been called off. This witch hunt has been such nonsense that it was difficult to know where to begin to discuss it. And as you pointed out so much of it is based in subjective, personal, emotional perceptions, that it has begun to be so ridiculous that there’s no way to have a rational discussion of even why people believe they think poorly of him. They don’t have a reason for it. They’re just looking for a scapegoat. This is bad. Worse, as a Phillies fan, it’s embarrassing. People get a grip. Stop this and leave him alone.

  15. By FuquaManuel on Jul 20, 2010

    @Rich Baxter

    Yes, she is entitled to her opinion, and we are entitled to bash her for having a stupid opinion.

  16. By lou on Jul 20, 2010

    Dear Bill,

    can you please write a blog blasting Amaro for his a) ineffectiveness b) smugness

    Thanks.

  17. By Bill Baer on Jul 20, 2010

    I, for one, enjoy Smuggy’s smugness.

  18. By lou on Jul 20, 2010

    “I think we know exactly what we’re going to do,” Amaro said. “I just choose not to tell you.”

    Amaro is a bottom 10 GM.

  19. By Maggie M on Jul 20, 2010

    I once received a 9-paragraph email from Mandy which started: “While you’re at home watching the games on tv, I’m at the ballpark living them.” (Which is only half true. The Morning Call doesn’t spring for road games, and I’m not convinced she’s at every home game as most game stories are taken off the AP.)

    The whole email was pretty ridiculous, but when she cited Chris Wheeler as a paragon of truth who tells it like it is and doesn’t toe the company line, I decided never to read another word she ever writes.

  20. By Ian on Jul 20, 2010

    This article was very refreshing. I`ve never actually visited this blog until today, but it`s nice to see somebody try to hold people accountable for making claims backed by no facts. Although I`m not thrilled with Werth this year, I don`t understand all of the hate directed at him. Besides Polanco, Howard, and Ruiz, no position players (currently healthy) have really impressed me this year. I still think the Phils will make the playoffs this year, possibly as the Wild Card, and I`d love to see Philly have a little more faith in a club that has been to the World Series two straight years.

  21. By Ted on Jul 20, 2010

    RE: Brad Lidge — No reason to worry about him blowing saves because he won’t have many opportunities at the rate the phillies are currently playing

  22. By Marty on Jul 21, 2010

    I’d like to point out that, in fact, this article was not reporting and was not sold as reporting. Mandy was writing commentary (albeit not particularly good commentary), and she used the same subjective analysis that 95% of baseball writers use. When she says that Werth “looks like” his defensive play is weak, it’s a pretty flimsy retort to say that she’s falsely perpetuating a statistically (mostly, but slightly) unfounded opinion–that’s why she said “looks like.” I like your statistical analysis, but this post struck me as more emotionally motivated than even her articles.

  23. By hk on Jul 21, 2010

    Waking up this morning and reading that the Phils are in Werth trade talks with the Rays has me fearing that Amaro is about to be fleeced by Andrew Friedman.

  24. By Scott on Jul 21, 2010

    Complainging about cursing? In Philly? Really?

  25. By WJWeiss on Jul 21, 2010

    It is simply incredible how all of you mathematicians running websites are so hypocritical. Your entire column on Housenick is an ad hominem attack on her while criticizing her for being too personal. It is typical of your site (and all the other “saber‘ sites. Anyone who doesn’t agree with you is “stupid”, “primitive”, “ignorant”, etc. We don’t need your childish graphs to understand that a millionaire going for a foul ball should not use the F word to a father sitting with a young son. We do not need your formulae to witness Werth standing there with the bat on his shoulder taking strike after strike. Even the primitives realize that he is almost dead last in the NL with RISP. Finally, your ridiculous never-ending quest to quantify everything shows your myopia. Fans DO want guys like Lidge on the team. A gentleman,; a truly dignified person even though we may suffer his relief appearances. It’s part of the enjoyment fans take from watching and following baseball. Hardly visit your site but the first time I did, my impression was of some kind of joyless, deadening philosophy I want no part of. understand that a millionaire going for a foul ball should not use the F word to a father sitiing with a young son. We do not need your formulae to witness Werth standing thewre with the bat on his shoulder taking strike after sdtrike. Even the primitives realize that he is almost dead last in the NL with RISP. Finally, your ridiculous never-endiung quest to quantify everything shows your myopia. Fans DO want guys like Lidge on the team. A gentlman,; a truly dignified person even though we may suffer his relief appearances. It’s part of the enjoyment fans take from watching and following baseball. Hardly visit your site but the first time I did, my imporession was of some kind of joyless, deadening philosphy I want no part of.

  26. By ABFree on Jul 21, 2010

    Is there anything to his numbers with RISP? and RISP and 2 outs? I haven’t looked at last yrs numbers and career average but I have to imagine there’s a solid drop off, no?

  27. By Heather on Jul 21, 2010

    Two points:

    1. Saying it’s not a ballplayer’s job to make himself available for media is disingenuous. The media and ballplayers are engaged in a symbiotic relationship. The reporter or the ballplayer who ignores that relationship does so at their peril.

    It’s ok to whine, “But it’s not fair! He shouldn’t have to be nice!” Ok, but don’t expect friendly press coverage.

    Isn’t that the way the world works? Give a little to get a little?

    2. Besides your enjoyment of ripping Mandy into little pieces (which made me chuckle, I admit), her basic premise (that it’s a good idea to trade Werth) is entirely defensible if one believes that a) the Phillies playoff chances are minimal and b) the Phils would get a good package back that would bolster their team for the 2011 season and beyond.

  28. By sean on Jul 21, 2010

    ^copy paste fail^?

    why do you care about langauge, players curse fans curse, it was a heat of the moment situation. werth wanted to make the play and felt the fan interfered and if the next pitch is hit for a home run are you saying the same thing about the fan? i guess you hated utley dropping the WFC in the parade too. people use “bad langauge” everywhere, get over it.

  29. By Childhood Phan on Jul 21, 2010

    Now they’re saying a trade of Werth is imminent, as in this week. Seriously? Now RAJ makes trades based on witch hunts? If this is true, then I for one am against it. This team will regret this. It’s a stupid move.

    Not one thing that is wrong with this team has anything to do with Jayson Werth. Change for change’s sake is stupid. Moving a valuable player b/c he’s the ONLY value you have is also dumb. The FO knows that, the coaches know that, the team knows it, and the FANS know it too – but everyone needed a scapegoat and Werth was convenient b/c it’s his FA yr.

    During the ’09 WS he had 1 less HR than Utley, in a couple of games he was the only one who hit or scored anything. In April he was THE BEARD! Now every teeny tiny defect real or imagined is HIS fault and you can’t wait to get rid of him. Phila fans should all be ashamed of acting like 5th graders on a playground picking on the weak kid. I don’t know how Werth withstood it.

    The gang mentality that built up around hating and blaming Werth for every thing that went wrong with this team for the past 2 mos was the very worst – living down to everything that’s been said about Philadelphia fandom. I’m embarrassed.

    I hope the trade rumors are just that – rumors. But if they’re true and he’s gone, then I hope wherever Jayson ends up he and his family are happy. I hope he gets big bucks, and I hope he finds his confidence again with fans who treat him the way he deserves.

  30. By Scott G on Jul 21, 2010

    @Rich Baxter

    I thought we previously discussed that you should not be allowed to write about baseball. You tried to compare Jamie Moyer to Tim Lincecum. Remember? If you’re a Jayson Werth fan, I suggest you learn how to spell his name.
    Wow, I took the time to make sure you misspell it on your site too, and you do. Pathetic.

    Anyway

    1. Jayson Werth is a very solid player. They should not trade him.

    2. To those siting RISP statistics, would you mind giving Werth a full year’s sample size until you bash him?

    2a. I think it is very comical that up until last year A-Rod got criticized for not being a “clutch” player. As many statistically minded baseball people know, a reason sample size for significant stats in baseball is commonly taken as 200 PA. Prior to last season A-Rod’s postseason PAs were significantly under 200, and his numbers were “not clutch”. During the 2009 postseason, he eclipsed 200 PAs, and his playoff numbers were almost a perfect subset of his career regular season numbers.

    3. This team is built for RIGHT NOW (a point I presented in a comment to the recent Bill Conlin post on which I would love to hear people’s opinions). Trading Jayson Werth to get a “meaningful package for next year” is almost as unlikely as it is pointless.

  31. By Scott G on Jul 21, 2010

    Did it ever enter some peoples’ minds that do to the fact that Raul Ibanez is a lump in the lineup behind Werth that teams haven’t been giving him good pitches to hit. Furthermore, it is likely that his plate approach right now is that he and Ryan Howard must carry the load. As such, he could potentially be altering his approach (one of his strong points) knowing that everything after him in the order sans Chooch is pretty worthless offensively.

  32. By David on Jul 21, 2010

    I’ve heard talks of a Werth for BJ Upton trade straight-up.

    Yes? No? Do we like that?

  33. By Scott G on Jul 21, 2010

    No. He’s got a career league avg OPS+.

    .261/.347/.408. Significant offensive downgrade.

  34. By Childhood Phan on Jul 21, 2010

    But when did the sole responsibility of this team’s RISP become Werth’s? Did I miss something? Suddenly every Phillies fan is pointing to his low RISP. Who on this team has a high RISP? In fact how many runs does this team even have all season? Runs? What RUNS??

    And NO.
    I don’t want BJ Upton.
    I don’t want to trade Werth.
    Get rid of Ibanez. And STOP please, stop telling me he has a ‘no trade’ clause. It just infuriates me so damn much that I can barely breathe.

    Bottomline, the truth is trading Werth would still just be an continuation of covering for an RAJ problem – b/c we can’t trade Ibanez – and b/c we still NEED PITCHING.

  35. By Brad on Jul 21, 2010

    Great job, Bill. I especially like that you linked this kind of sloppy “journalism” to the mess we call our political media. Mandy sounds like the perfect candidate for a job at Politico–no factual analysis required! just report rumors and things that feel good to state!

    I can’t decide if political reporting is becoming more like sports reporting, or vice versa. But either way, they both are in a horrific state. Thanks again, for taking a stand for rationality and intelligence.

    And WJWeiss, look up “ad hominem” some time.

  36. By WJWeiss on Jul 21, 2010

    Yeah Brad. I don’t need to look it up; I know what it means. Shall I graph it for you?

    And she didn’t report any rumors. Look up rumors some time.

  37. By Childhood Phan on Jul 21, 2010

    No matter how you slice it the media caused the circus. Innuendo & half-baked, half-truths posed as “sports journalism.” Because Ms. Housenick isn’t wearing a designer dress & diamonds, & talking Lindsay Lohan doesn’t mean she’s either taking her job seriously or doing it well. She didn’t tell the truth or maybe didn’t tell the full truth. The Phila media told what they wanted to tell. They shaded the info so we’d feel what they wanted us to (for whatever reason).

    Not fair & not ethical, and also not journalism. Fans went along, acting like children, believing it b/c they wanted someone to be at fault for the losing team. Werth was an easy target as everyone was so positive he was going to ask for “too much money” & “too many yrs.” (But Ryan Howard didn’t ask for too much. And wow, he’s been worth the $19 mil he was paid this yr huh…

    It’s staggering really. We had only the b.s. the media fed us. 3 yrs of getting better annually & loving the guy wasn’t enough for fans. Phila turned on him like sharks. As it turns out Werth was the one with class. He kept his head down, tried way too hard (to the point of zeroing himself out), minded his own business, and save for the round-dad-in-green, he kept his mouth shut.

    Looks like another lesson in modern day America: Keep your mouth shut, do your job, be a team player, get better every yr; aaaand people will hate you, actively work against you, and make certain you do not get the payday coming to you. Then you & your 2 small kids get shipped to the nether regions of hot/humid Florida.

  38. By WJWeiss on Jul 21, 2010

    TWO POSTS IN ONE!!!

    “…Looks like another lesson in modern day America: Keep your mouth shut, do your job, be a team player, get better every yr; aaaand people will hate you, actively work against you, and make certain you do not get the payday coming to you…”

    “But Ryan Howard didn’t ask for too much. And wow, he’s been worth the $19 mil he was paid this yr huh…”

    And such deep thoughts. Hmmmm….very thought-provoking. Did you come up with that at a cafe in Paris? But don’t worry everyone! The banishment to Florida has been postponed until next Thursday.

  39. By Sundar on Jul 21, 2010

    WJWeiss appears to have visited and re-visited a site that he/she is so morbidly affected by.

    Oh, and two posts in one is better than one long-winded diatribe copied and pasted once more in the same post. Editing must not be your thing, eh? Go look back at your first post before you start editing others. But I’m sure that’s as painstaking as advanced stats for an actual “FAN,” right? Ya know, the stats that are employed by actual professional baseball organizations that you so grandiosely claim to be a “FAN” of

  40. By Sundar on Jul 21, 2010

    Keep doing the Lord’s work, Bill

  41. By Bill Baer on Jul 21, 2010

    Indeed, Sundar, I will continue to abide by the Flying Spaghetti Monster and His Noodly Appendages.

  42. By district xi on Jul 21, 2010

    i read her blog last night and was astounded at the lack of journalistic professionalism, only because it is affiliated with a newspaper, other than that it is simply an editorial. She should know better though and stick with facts if she is going to make such bold assertions. I played hs baseball in district xi where she covered ball for several years and i think she still does, and thinking back to the way she would talk down to coaches i am not surprised that she thinks she knows everything about baseball. That fact coupled with Maggie M’s post about an email she received shows her character and why her blog is a joke. It sounded like a terrible personal vendetta. Keep up the good work Bill.

  43. By Sean Cunningham on Jul 22, 2010

    Haha, the hate on Werth is getting ridiculous. But, it does appear he will not be on the team August 1st. I have about zero evidence to support this, but I have a feeling, is all.

  44. By David on Jul 22, 2010

    I’m starting to wonder if Childhood Phan is a close relative of Jayson. He (She) defends him with such passion and vigor. It’s very admirable.

    Now, why didn’t Charlie pinch-hit for Blanton with the bases loaded?

  45. By WJWeiss on Jul 22, 2010

    Hey Sundar. Thanks for the post. It kept me up “morbidly” all night. And further, you are actually, wrong. That was not a cut-and-paste of my post. You obviously didn’t see all my other posts so you’re working with just a small sample size. This was actually the result of what we like to call a wC&P (weighted cut-and-paste for all you ignaramouses out there. I would insert a graphical representation of this but don’t think you would get it). Yes. I am not a “GRANDIOSE” “FAN” (I put two of your bigger words together for you. No need to thank me.) Never understood baseball or saw the total irrelevance of a 1.12 ERA until you “ADVANCED” “FANS” (Did it again for you. I even used your capitalization)came along. All of you stats guys are so…how do you say….”ADVANCED”. Hey, what the hell, as you geniuses like to say, wins, losses, strikes, balls, ERA, AVG, HR’s, steals, balks, errors, outs, walks, strikeouts and hit batsman — even the standings — are all so unimportant anyway.

  46. By mike on Jul 22, 2010

    WJWeiss = Best. Troll. EVER.

    nice work!

  47. By Bill Baer on Jul 22, 2010

    WJWeiss,

    Cool story bro.

  48. By Danny on Jul 22, 2010

    I’m not all that opposed to writing about the attitude of a player as long as it is unbiased and based on fact.

    For example, if Werth goes into the locker room and goes on a tirade in front of the reporters, I want to know about that. If he is yelling at other teammates or calling them out, I want to know about it, too.

    I’m not in any way calling Mandy right — in fact, I agree with what you wrote about her articles. They are indefensible. Whining that a player treats you badly as a reporter is bad journalism. But as fans, we want to know these players, and writing about their character is important to the people of Philadelphia. News is defined based on what the people want to know, and the people certainly want to know how their favorite players act on and off the field.

    I think you threw Ryan Lawrence under the bus for no particular reason in this case. He had nothing to do with Mandy’s story, and you didn’t provide any evidence as to why he should have been included in the same sentence with her. I like a lot of the things you write and agree with mostly all the things you say, but in this case I think your criticism of him is a bit personal. Just my opinion on that issue.

    I also can’t stand the Werth hate fest. It makes no sense and hasn’t been based on anything factual other than his numbers with runners in scoring position. While part of the reason can be linked to him — higher fly ball rate, lower ground ball and line drive rate — a .175 BABIP with RISP is a sign of Cole Hamels-like luck. The law of averages suggest he’ll get better, so we just have to be patient. I understand the frustration, but it’s not warranted to blame this team’s struggles on Werth.

  49. By Bill Baer on Jul 22, 2010

    News is defined based on what the people want to know

    Disagree with you here, Danny. People want to know if Paris Hilton had a nip-slip. Doesn’t make it news.

    I think you threw Ryan Lawrence under the bus for no particular reason in this case.

    He was in the previous Werth article; he was the one who made the snide comment to Werth. No professional journalist should do that.

  50. By Danny on Jul 22, 2010

    Okay, I agree that journalists should not get into it with players. I don’t know the whole situation, so I won’t keep going about it.

    And, unfortunately, Paris Hilton’s nip-slip (in my opinion) is news for someone. It may be trashy news and not respectable, but it’s news, nonetheless.

    Personally, I like knowing the mood of the clubhouse or how a player acts in the heat of the game. If Werth is reacting to a journalist who is provoking him, that’s crap. But if someone asks him a question, and he goes “Fuck off”, that’s something I want to know.

    I don’t use that stuff when I am analyzing how a player performs, but I do think intangibles play a part in sports. It’s just that it’s not quantifiable, so you have to throw it out as a standard error.

  51. By Bill Baer on Jul 22, 2010

    We could get into the semantics about the definition of “news” in which case you’d probably win with the more generalized definition. But I think you’d agree that, say, North Korea testing nuclear weapons is more newsworthy than Paris Hilton. There’s clearly important and unimportant news.

    If the beat writer is simply retelling a story about how the player went on a tirade, that’s fine. But what Mandy did was pass judgment, which was totally irresponsible.

  52. By Danny on Jul 22, 2010

    Yes, agree with you 100 percent there on all counts.

    Look at that, we had a civil argument. I’d like to cyber-shake your hand.

  53. By Bill Baer on Jul 22, 2010

    I’m trying to bring the high-five back. So, like, Internet high-five and stuff.

  54. By Stick Sidinya on Jul 23, 2010

    I actually prefer a blog to have some opinion mixed in. This blog pretends that it doesn’t do that, when in fact it’s full of opinion. Even this piece is an example of that.

    I understand that you’re saying Werth isn’t having as terrible a year as some people are saying, but he’s certainly not having as good a year as last year. And THAT PLAYER is the player the fans want, not Werth this year. It’s just becoming more obvious that he’s not, and probably never really was, actually that player.

    I realize that the other guys on the team aren’t really hitting either, but they aren’t the ones in this particular situation: free agent after the season, possibly commanding a big contract, and having the potential to reign in some nice prospects/pitching help.

  55. By Bill Baer on Jul 23, 2010

    Werth’s .376 wOBA is six one-thousandths behind his wOBA the previous two years (.382). If you’re not familiar with wOBA, click here. Saying that Werth “isn’t producing” is flat out wrong. Even his isolated power of .222 is barely behind that of 2008 and ’09 (.225 and.238, respectively).

    You could say that his defense has gotten worse. His -6.0 UZR/150 this year is well behind his 7.4 mark last year. But that would require putting faith in small samples of UZR data — not recommended.

    In terms of statistical significance, you can’t say his power is down. You can’t say he’s walking less or striking out more. You can’t say he’s swinging at bad pitches or making less contact.

    He has an .873 OPS. His OPS was .879 last year and .861 the year before. By any statistical measure you use, you cannot legitimately say that Werth is “not producing”. Sure, he’s slumped, but what hitter doesn’t slump?

    (Note: The numbers have slightly changed since this was written, of course.)

    How many ways can I say it? His stats this year compared to last year are all extremely similar, so much so that any differences can simply be attributed to statistical variance.

  56. By Childhood Phan on Jul 23, 2010

    @David: I can assure you though I’m from the midwest (don’t live there now) I am in no way related to Jayson Werth. I don’t even know anyone who knows anyone who knows or has met Jayson Werth.

    Wait – I know a co-worker (oddly a Met fan) who saw him in a restaurant, eating a cheeseburger & fries before a game. He said he was tall & nice. Shrug, that’s it. But for the record, I don’t even own a ‘Werth’ jersey.

    Sorry if I sounded overly vehement but after defending Phila fans against the same kinds of things that other fans do in every park in this country (but they don’t get reported b/c its more fun when it’s Phila) I didn’t enjoy my Yankees & Mets fans friends showing me tons of internet stuff from Phila all against Werth (esp when I’d already seen it). They laughed,”Yeah, thought you loved Werth. Now he’s all wrong. Now you guys can’t waaaait to trade him? Niiice. You’ll be sorry.”

    Of course the Yankees fans are the worst. Please they’re repellent – outright proof there is no higher power (and Steinbrenner’s down there now signing the devil’s option). How else could the Phillies be suffering like this and ARoid hit his 599th last night? There is nothing at all right about it.

  57. By Chris on Jul 23, 2010

    Should Werth’s .297 wOBA so far in July be a cause for concern or just a slump that can be written off due to small sample size? I think most of the problem for people is the fact that he had a tremendous April and while he was still very good in May and June, it was not up to the same par, and with a struggling Victorino and Ibanez and an injured Rollins, Werth’s drop off seemed more dramatic than it actually was. Now that Rollins is back and Utley is out, the only person really producing right now is Howard. Additionally, he is probably the most “trade-able” of the players we have and with Moyer out, we may need to fill out our rotation from the trade market. Finally, most fans think it’s Dominic Brown’s time to move to the big leagues and that it couldn’t hurt at this point in the season. All of these things together are, in my opinion, what make people think a Werth trade make sense. Personally though, I agree with you that Werth should not be traded because he is a very solid hitter and I’d rather fix our bullpen and wait for Happ to come back than rely on Brown to save our hitting. At this point I’m just hoping we can hang in there until Utley comes back because he clearly is the most valuable player on our team if somehow nobody saw it before.

  58. By sherri on Jul 24, 2010

    I totally agree with everything you said. Jayson Werth is one of the best all around players in the game, and he deserves to be treated as such. People need to cut him some slack; every hitter goes into slumps, and every baseball player gets frustrated and uses foul language. This journalist is downright pitiful with her sorry attempts at trying to rid Philadelphia of Werth because he’s “mean to the media”.

  59. By Bob on Jul 26, 2010

    Extensive (and curious) character assassination of fellow (female) traveler, especially when the Miss is onto something here. As Mr. Werth was largely considered a bit of a lucky find, that is, he really could do no wrong as he came from out of nowhere and was cheap as can be…then, he showed he was a good athlete and ball player..and the basis of how we judge a player came into view. Sadly, Mr. Werth has not lived up to this increased expectation. My enduring image of Mr. Werth is when he yelled at that kid and his dad who had the audacity to catch a ball that was hurtling toward his or his son’s head. The look on that kid (and his Dad’s) face was some of the worst publicity the Phils has had since taser-gate. Obviously they were huge Phillies and baseball fans, wanted to feel good about catching a foul ball, and then forced to feel like Steve Bartman by one of their heroes, who happens to be a spindly, hairy, prima donna, with a little girl’s speaking voice. Ok, I hate Jason Werth too, despite his middling statistical prowess noted here.

  60. By Bill Baer on Jul 26, 2010

    LOL

  61. By Colin on Jul 27, 2010

    This was gold. Straight gold.

    Thank you for troll-stomping, about time somebody reminded her that professional journalism typically maintains a degree of separation from one’s emotions.

    If you were a pokemon, you just leveled up.

  62. By Childhood Phan on Jul 27, 2010

    Bob: Green-Dad & the foul ball – people buy those seats to catch foul balls. Of course his son’s safety was in his head but catching the ball was too. Btw: extra innings; 2 outs; w/a RF-er who’d been singled out by fans & writers re: his perf (or lack thereof)when the whole team was bad & in 3rd place, & a win of any kind was nec.

    We’ve no choice but to believe he was a Phillies fan (excep the GRN shirt). He should’ve known to get out of the way & let the Tall Large Beard, moving at mach 4 try to catch the ball. Worried about his son? Do what my parents did: they threw their own bodies over me. In my exper that’s what concerned parents do. Btw, nice catch.

    The boy didn’t understand the crowd booing Dad catching the ball. I don’t think he heard Werth (as if a kid that age never heard an expletive, pls). I don’t think Werth saw the kid. As it happened that ball wasn’t the game, but nobody knew that.

    I learned: if your team-move & let them try to catch. If the other team-get in the way.

    Hey, the whole ‘incident’ took 30 secs but to small minds it’s lasted longer. A fender-bender, they happen in baseball. Neither adult had a nano sec to think, let alone figure on ramifications. Werth has 2 small kids. He’d likely take back the expletive, but I’m sure he’d ask Grn-Dad to move or buy diff seats too.

    As far as wanting MORE of Werth, wow. More than being arguably one of the few solid 4-5 tool players in the game? More than 36 HRs, 99 RBIs, 20 SBs? More than being clutch through the playoffs, more than 1 less HR than Utley in the ’09 WS? More than covering Howard’s back? More than taking all the heat from the writers & fans for doing his job? More than being Utley’s best bud on the team? What in the name of all-that’s-holy are you talking about–”MORE”?

    His voice?! That’s a joke right. His voice sounds normal. You want girly, ck out Hamels. Then we’ll talk.

    Uh, Bob, are you Housenick?

  63. By Western Dave on Jul 28, 2010

    Just to be clear the difference between Werth’s f-bomb and Utley’s was Werth’s non-apology apology afterwords. That incident gives us some incident into Werth’s character and suggests that if he’s that self-centered around issues involving 10 year-olds, he’s probably self-centered the rest of the time. Given the typically cozy relationship between sportswriters and athletes, it takes a lot of self-centeredness and unprofessional behavior to have a sportswriter unleash the kind of invective that the original author did. Somehow Werth got a slide for challenging Charly’s analysis of his hitting problems (can you imagine what would have happened to Rollins in a similar situation?) Am I speculating? Yes. But my speculations are grounded on a professional lifetime built on close textual readings, first person anthropological investigation, and oral history interviewing.

    Whenever Werth leaves, we will no doubt a) miss his fine ballplaying skills and b) discover how much his teammates/coaching staff will be glad to see the door hit him on the way out. These are not mutually contradictory facts.

  64. By Bill Baer on Jul 29, 2010

    I can’t believe that, in 2010, people are complaining about the use of the “f-bomb”. It’s beyond immature; it’s babyish.

  65. By Western Dave on Aug 2, 2010

    Don’t have kids Bill, or are you simply crude? Werth’s failure to aplogize speaks poorly on him as a person. It’s irrelevant really, which words he used to curse out the dad catching a ball in the stands – not on the field but in the stands – and then not apologizing for his actions. It speaks poorly on him as a person and the failure of his teammates to rally around him on this shows he probably acts the same way around them.

  66. By David on Aug 3, 2010

    Journalism that shouldn’t have made it out of high school (let alone college) with a passing grade aside, the whole anti-Werth thing doesn’t make a lot of sense, unless it’s simply a matter of unfulfilled unrealistic expectations. The great start could be a big part of that, but maybe it’s simply impatience. If one looks now, the easy, visible BA/OBP/SLG numbers are all better than they were the last two years – helped by the fact that, since July 19th, he’s been hitting to the tune of .429/.533/.714!

  67. By CH Phan on Aug 3, 2010

    I must’ve missed the teammates rallying around Shane’s complaints to the media about the fans ragging on their losses. Guess the team doesn’t like Shane. Must’ve missed the team rallying around Rollins when he was benched last season. Didn’t hear a peep from any of them. Guess none of them like JRoll. Didn’t see teammates rally around Utley when he dropped the f-bomb at the WS parade and was chastised for it. Guess they don’t like him either. Wow, there seems to be more teammate jealousy than at a cheerleader camp. Makes one wonder how they’ve managed to win 3 NLDS, 2 NLCS & gone to the WS twice. They must be better actors than DiCaprio with all the laughing and buddying around we see them do on & off the field. But I guess you know better than everyone b/c you’ve made “speculations built on a professional lifetime of close textual readings, first person anthropological investigation, and oral history interviewing.”

  68. By Bill Baer on Aug 3, 2010

    @ Western Dave

    Werth’s failure to aplogize speaks poorly on him as a person.

    No, it speaks to not subscribing to the same set of subjective moral standards as you and others.

  69. By David on Aug 3, 2010

    Er…perhaps it might be a stronger argument, at least given this blog, that a few instances of behavior by Werth that came off poorly to some people is too small of a sample size to be properly indicative of his character. :P

  70. By denny on Sep 6, 2010

    I agree with the general tenor of this argument – with the exception of the baserunning issue. You can’t call the guy a good baserunner, historically. Maybe he only got picked off once this year, but the manner in which it happened was preposterous – unheard of. In the ’08 WS – thus, in the space of 5 games – he got doubled off of first on a line drive to right field (huh?) and picked off of second by the pitcher. Bottom line – these aren’t examples of a guy getting thrown out trying to grab an extra base; they seem to reflect sort of a “mental check-out” on Werth’s part. In big games, and at big times.

    Folks can, obviously, think what they want; but those three instances and the moniker “good baserunner” don’t jibe.

  71. By falcon2 on Nov 23, 2010

    i thought mandy had a some good points, werth don’t want to play in philly, good then don’t let the door hit u in the ass on your way out, it was very obvious watching him in spring training his mind not focused on the game, inasmuch as, hitting i have never seen anyone swing at some god awful pitches and his avg. w/ducks on the pond is below .200, appearance statment wise i think he may give b.o.plenty a run for the money, take a bath, i say good riddance a star he is not.

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