It's Monday, which means our regularly scheduled programming of This Week in (Dumb) Baseball is ready for consumption.
As regular readers already know, this feature has the title, sure, but it's mostly for fun-- a fact that eludes the masses but remains the case. For example, if you tell me to "quit whining," you are missing the point. I'm mostly chuckling to myself as I write these things (with some exceptions, of course).
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1. All the prospect overreactions
We're about to see several more prospects traded for big names in the coming days and there will be a certain segment of the baseball media and fan population that will love every single deal for the team that sold a veteran. I'm all for following prospects and hoping they pan out, but the reality is that sometimes they don't. There's been an overcorrection from the years when a Jeff Bagwell-for-Larry Andersen swap happened and now we see mass panic when a team actually goes for it and gives up prospects of value.
Take the Royals-Rays trade a few offseasons ago. James Shields, Wade Davis and a player to be named later (eventually Elliot Johnson) were traded for Wil Myers, Mike Montgomery, Jake Odorizzi and Patrick Leonard.
The Royals were obliterated by the prospect hounds. They gave up the top power hitting prospect in baseball for two years of Shields? Terrible! That's why the Royals suck!
All that followed was the Royals' best season since 1989 and then an even better season that ended in Game 7 of the World Series.
Myers won Rookie of the Year in 2013 but was injured and disappointing last season and he's now on a different team. So is Montgomery. Meanwhile, Davis is one of the best relievers in baseball.
This happens a lot, too.
Remember when Ubaldo Jimenez was traded to the Indians in 2011? The Indians got fleeced by the Rockies, I remember reading in more places than one. Fans were up in arms. The package they sent to Colorado? Alex White, Joe Gardner, Matt McBride and Drew Pomeranz. Only Pomeranz is relevant right now and it's with a different team.
Let's just try to keep perspective when we see these trades happen.
2. A thought on replay
They really need to mic up the crew chief like they do in football so he can explain to the fans in attendance what is being reviewed and then why the decision to either uphold, confirm or overturn a call was made. It's pretty dumb to have fans sitting around for upwards of five minutes sometimes having no idea what is going on.
3. Throwing gum/whining
Dale Thayer, don't throw your gum at someone. If you don't like how a guy poses after a home run, don't give up home runs. And Shawn Kelley, what the hell are you doing?
Stop acting like children, guys. You are adults. Seriously, if a bunch of eight year olds threw temper tantrums about how the other team acted I'd make them run a few laps.
4. This idiot
Everyone who runs onto the field of play is worthy of being mentioned here, but we'll give a special shout out to Justin Buchanan, who saw fit to run onto the field at Great American Ball Park last week. I was there and witnessed him very impressively leaping over the center field wall and then disappearing around the batter's eye. He actually got away with it due to a well-thought-out plan of escape.
Until he decided to go on the freaking local news and brag about it (cincinnati.com), that is.
Additionally, he posted a selfie-video of himself doing it on YouTube and plastered his story all over social media. And then he got arrested and now faces up to 180 days in jail (cincinnati.com).
His friends started a "go fund me" account to raise bail money. Sigh.
This isn't about disrupting a game. Player safety in this age of terrorism isn't a laughing matter, but all his quotes to the press show someone who just doesn't get it. He thinks what he did was harmless and all in good fun.
Please don't give him a dime. This is all self-inflicted and he deserves to pay the price.
And now, let us wash away the dumb with fun!
Baseball card of the week
Ted Kluszewski in a tank top jersey.
Not-so-random throwback highlight
Pedro Martinez throws six no-hit innings to close down Game 5 of the ALDS against Cleveland.
Possibly dumb pop culture thought of the week
My wife and I watched E.T. with my son on Saturday and it was the first time he'd ever seen it. I know it's a different era and all that, but was Elliot's Mom one of the worst parents ever or what?
She left a 10 year old home alone all day while he was sick (or so she thought). She later left her five-year-old daughter home alone for a few minutes while she went to the school to pick up her son -- after being told he was intoxicated and her seeing multiple empty beer cans on the floor, to which she didn't even react! -- and there was a freaking alien living in her house for several days before the oldest kid had to tell her about it.
I realize her husband left her and that sucks, but get it together, Elliot's Mom.
On that note, it's time to put a bow on this thing. Have a good week, friends.
Suggestions (dumb stuff, random videos, baseball cards, pop culture rankings topics, etc.) or hate mail? Feel free to hit me up: matt.snyder@cbs.com or you could always go to Twitter (@MattSnyderCBS).