Fred Meyer on Fantasy Focus with Jeff Erickson today re: Closers

Jeff Erickson asks Fred Meyer whom he'd name as the top 5 closers this year (with fantasy in mind, but in any case accurately). Fred of course names 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, then pauses...(so far, no mention of Mariano Rivera, same boilerplate as ESPN). Jeff finally says jovially, "Well, no list of closers would be complete without the mention of Mo Rivera!"

• Meyer then says oh, yeah, Rivera and Trevor Hoffman are right up there (or 'tops' or words to that general effect.)

FRED MEYER'S ON BOARD WITH THE PROGRAM--FIRST, IGNORE RIVERA COMPLETELY IF AT ALL POSSIBLE. (Check). SECOND, IF FORCED TO ADMIT HIS EXISTENCE, PAIR HIS NAME AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS WITH TREVOR H. (Check).--This does a few things--it gets the subject off Mariano, it lowers his image to pair him with Hoffman since Rivera is light years better than he, and it RAISES Hoffman in the fan's mind to be told he's in the SAME category as Mo. People hear this or any lie enough and they'll believe it.

• Then Meyer gives false information about Rivera. He says that he doesn't look at them at first because they've been pitching fewer and fewer innings. THAT MAY BE TRUE ABOUT SOMEONE ELSE, MEYER, BUT IT'S NOT TRUE ABOUT MARIANO. HE WAS WAY AHEAD OF YOUR OTHER PALS IN IP/AL LATE INNING RELIEVERS THROUGH MOST OF LAST SEASON, AND ENDED THE SEASON #2 IN THAT CATEGORY BEHIND ONLY JJ PUTZ.

Mo pitched 75IP Regular season 2006, 78+IP 2005 regular season, and 70+ IP the 2 years before. Did Meyer ever count how many IP Mo had in the post season in 2001 or 2003, or remember that he's expected to have enough left in the tank to pitch every year in the post season? He's not thrown little 'saves' cookies, no men on base, never more than 1 IP like the other guy.

• There's simply no truth to what Meyer says, and how he says it is EXACTLY the way the baseball media mafia does. I understand that Fantasy guys look at strike-outs, but no one elaborates or distinguishes about Mo being a ground ball pitcher & what that might offer, instead he's mentioned in passing as someone who's pitching fewer innings, which is a lie. (Does Meyer ever look at Homeruns given up by late inning relievers?)

While I greatly appreciate Jeff Erickson's show, the world of baseball becomes depressing when I hear the constant lies and minimizing of Mariano Rivera. Granted, Mo has a terrible agent and a team that's never marketed him or appreciated him (see my many details and letters to the YES Network), but all these guys keep doing it because it's easy to get away with.

• It's a full time job documenting this topic and an unpleasant one. Most turn to baseball for happiness and escape, and don't want to be burdened with the facts.

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon