I want to address a couple of things today. One of them is the Bears signing of Josh Morgan, a signing that has been fairly understated by most fans so far, but what is still not expected by me to be a huge signing. The second is a stupid trend in baseball that has to end now, that is the whole, "Playing the game the right way," trend. It was the cause for another stupid brawl the other day that has led to several suspensions, and what I'll call Brian McCann syndrome has become a well intentioned plague on the game.
To start, we'll go with the signing of Josh Morgan. I've seen fans refer to this signing as anything from training camp and preseason depth to someone strictly for special teams. I've seen very few who have actually looked at him becoming an offensive contributor. This makes me wonder how much the fans really know about him. If you take out his injury shortened year in 2011 (played only 5 games), he's averaging about 37 catches per season with 454 yards and 2 touchdowns. This is obviously not #1 receiver material, or anyone to really get overly excited about, but at the same time it is a potentially productive player on the roster, not just on special teams, but on the offensive side of the ball.
He did have a tough season last year, but let's remember that he'll be 29 last season. At that age a tough season is far from meaning that a player is washed up. What is it? It's exactly what it is, a bad season. Put him into Trestman's system that has been so good so far and he could be back to getting his 35-45 catches as a #3 or #4 receiver, depending on if Marquess Wilson is ready. Let's not forget that he's had seasons with 52, 48, and 44 receptions. The 48 reception season was only 2 years ago, the season after his broken ankle.
So, with that out of the way, Morgan does bring more than being a potential #3 or #4 receiver. He's widely recognized as a great blocking receiver. This is something that can easily get him on the field on the offensive side of the ball and on special teams. On offense he can be brought in mostly on running plays as well as being a decoy who can bait teams into thinking a run is coming, as he is good enough to be an option when they decide to throw instead. On special teams he can be an excellent early blocker on kick returns, and he can also play coverage, as he has done well at that in the past.
As a whole, Morgan is not someone for fans to go nuts over, as a receiver he's not going to be anything more than a #3 or #4 receiver. On special teams he'll be blocking and/or covering, not returning (he has before, but hasn't been anything overwhelming). However, with a small contract he can be an absolute steal that can make a positive contribution to the team. Sure, the possibility is there that he doesn't make it out of training camp, but the stronger possibility is that he is a solid contributor to the team on both offense and special teams.
Now, switching gears. The whole thing where players go after guys on the other team who celebrate their own good play has got to end. The players who engage in this behavior refer to it as "Playing the right way." It is not playing the right way, in fact, everything about it is wrong. Sure, there are guys that go too far with celebrating. I'll never forget when Prince Fielder did the whole bowling ball thing after a home run. That was going too far. However, simply flipping a bat after a big hit is going about it the wrong way, especially when that player helps your team by doing that and winding up with a triple when he could easily have had an inside the park home run.
Honestly, I have no problem with celebrations for the most part. If it's some sort of group celebration that's one thing, but there have been things from flipping a bat to simple fist pumping that have gotten Brian McCann and his wannabe's all worked up. Here's a little tip to those guys. If you want to be mad at someone for those celebrations, get mad at your own pitcher who gave up the big hit. If you're a catcher like McCann, get mad at yourself for calling that pitch. Getting mad at someone for being happy that they contributed in a positive manner to their team is beyond immature and pathetic. Is McCann just mad that his career seems to be on a steady decline or something (at age 30, at that)? Either way, it's not just McCann, but he's made himself into the posterboy for this sort of thing. Probably good that he's on a team with Carlos Beltran now, as Beltran never tried to fight anyone, but made some remarks about Yasiel Puig (really stepping up there by picking a tough target) when Puig celebrated a triple in the playoffs last year against the Cardinals. One fan had enough of a sense of humor to point out with a video that the Cardinals did plenty of celebrating themselves last year.
When Fielder went over the line a few years ago, the next time he batted against the team he did it against, in a spring training game, he was hit with a mid 80's pitch in the ribs. This is a better way of handling things, don't throw a rocket at the guy's head or anything, that's going way too far in retaliation, but just give him something to give him enough of a sting that he knows it won't be tolerated. The positives there, in comparison to starting a brawl, are that nobody gets suspended or thrown out, assuming the batter takes it, as they usually do when they know they've crossed the line. When you start a brawl, all you do is get yourself and your teammates into trouble. More often than not, the team that tries to do things the "right way" is the team that sees more players suspended. Was it really worth it? One of your players losing a battle at the plate caused you to get mad at the player he lost to because that player celebrated his victory, so you then get possibly yourself and a bunch of other players on your team suspended? Please give me a good reason that's not stupid, because I can't find any.
Of course, when it comes to mild celebrations like fist pumps and flipping the bat, especially when it causes a player to get out of the box slowly and maybe give up a base they could have had, just don't do anything. Use it as motivation to play better yourself or tell your pitcher to not give him one to hit to the wall. Either way, if you really complain about a player having emotion after a good play, you probably shouldn't be playing professional sports, because you're being a sore loser. It's not playing the game the right way, it's just simply being a sore loser after being beat in that given situation. It's a plague that needs to be stopped. I would love to see the league office start stepping in and giving some extra punishment to players who participate in this sort of buffoonery, as it's getting players who are doing nothing more that sticking up for their idiot teammate into trouble, and that's not fair to those teammates. The Brian McCanns of the league (and in the most recent case, Gerrit Cole) are literally getting their teammates suspended, all because they're just sore losers. It has nothing to do with doing anything the right way, it's all about being a sore loser.
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