April 21--Reds manager Bryan Price is going to have a long season, and not just because his team isn't very good.
After his profanity-laden tirade against the media on Monday night at Milwaukee, Price's relationship with his writers is basically over.
Sure, they can all pretend it's normal the rest of the year, but it can't be that way again. No apology can take back Price's suggestion his writers are hurting his team by pointing out the fact a player was not in uniform for a game.
That's their job, to cover the team. After his extended rant, Price then tells them to please leave his office.
Price is basically saying he expects the media to be cheerleaders for the Reds, and if not, he won't give them any information at all. Reminded me of some vintage Terry Bevington, circa 1995.
Here's my favorite passage from Price's rave-out, as transcribed by the Cincinnati Enquirer:
"I like to talk -- and I have spoken as candidly as I can with you people, if that's not good enough, I won't say a (bleeping) thing. I'll go, 'yes sir, no sir.' And I can do that. But (bleep), I've been as candid as I can (bleeping) be about this team and our players, and we've got to deal with this (bleep), every (bleeping) team that we (bleeping) play has to know every (bleeping) guy that's here and what they can and can't do? (Bleep) me. It's a (bleeping) disgrace. I'm (bleeping) sick of this (bleep). It's (bleeping) hard enough to (bleeping) win here to have (bleeping) every (bleeping) opponent know exactly what the (bleep) we bring to the table every day. It's (bleeping) horse (bleep). I don't like it. It's what I'm saying. To make it very clear, I don't like the way that this (bleep's) going -- at all. I don't like it. I don't think you guys need to know everything. And I certainly don't think you need to see something and tweet it out there and make it a (bleeping) world event."
Price seems to believes the writers are all part of Major League Baseball's public relations machine. Unfortunately, that's the byproduct of MLB.com, where many good reporters are often forced to overlook or underplay things that put the team in a negative light. In Price's world, every reporter should follow that lead and just look at the good things that have happened during the Reds' losing streak.
Beat writers have to deal with managers every day, and it's important to have a working relationship, even if you don't agree on everything. That's something Joe Maddon and Robin Ventura understand, and most managers I've covered (with the obvious exception of Bevington) also got it.
Price went over the line and will have a hard time going back. Too bad for him, and too bad for the readers interested in following the Reds.
Addison time
The Addison Russell call-up gives the Cubs three of their core prospects, along with Kris Bryant and Jorge Soler. President Theo Epstein said last Friday that they wanted players to "dominate" their level before going up to the next level, but obviously Russell didn't play long enough at Iowa to do that.
Given the options at second, Epstein made the right move to give Russell the benefit of the doubt.
"He took A's camp by storm each of the last two spring trainings to the point where they kind of bandied about the idea of making him the opening-day shortstop, because he was so impressive," Epstein told me in spring training. "It's easy to see why when you watch him play. Great hands. Great feet. Great head on his shoulders and obviously a lightning quick bat to boot ... That's a stock you want to bet on."
Bet on him succeeding, especially playing in the shadow of the Bryant hype.
The Guy and the Goat
Bryant's brief stint at Triple-A Iowa this year gave us a classic ad that wouldn't have worked had he opened the season with the Cubs.
The Red Bull ad features Bryant "down on the farm," trying to milk a cow as Chicagoans debate whether he should've been with the Cubs.
"Credit to Red Bull and our marketing team," agent Scott Boras said.
Bryant's scenes were shot last week in New Orleans, as he told the media, where the Iowa Cubs were playing.
"We had to figure out where he was going to be and how he was going to do it," Boras said. "Our marketing team went down. It was bad weather, raining, and he had boots on. They did it all in one day."
The ad ends with a scene of Bryant boarding a bus to Chicago with a goat on a leash.
"It's all New Orleans," Boras said. "They just used computer graphics to change the name of the (destination) to Chicago."
It's a brilliant ad, and should be the first of many for Bryant as he joins Derrick Rose and Mike Ditka as Chicago's most marketable sports personalities.
