Anthony Witrado-JS Brewers Blog

[bluemoundlotallstar]

What do you think of this guy?

 

Personally, I really like the work Haudricourt puts in and he seems to be not only more insightful and "connected" to the organization, but less of a jerk. I do not actually submit questions to the mailbag, but I do read this section from time to time and some of Witrado's responses are just down right mean and don't bother to answer the question that was asked, regardless of how good the question is.

 

I do not know how he can get away taking shots at the readers and anyone who criticizes him. Most recently when someone asked him what kind of qualifications are needed for the job or something similar, he responded with a comment about the reader mounting a horse using a ladder (referencing Napoleon I would assume). Guys like Eugene Kane I can see making comments to readers like this, because people often attack him and call him out directly, but Witrado isn't doing editorial columns that are supposed to be controversial. From my understanding, his job is to enlighten the readers and give them some more information on the Brewers, not make jokes about how little they know about baseball or the Brewers. I think it was also Witrado who posted the any rant on the blog about how people needed to stop calling out Prince for not eating meat. Obviously, the people he was writting this too were in the same boat and knew it was a tired comment and stupid, but were using it sarcastically.

 

How can a guy with zero personality, who doesn't really contribute anything groundbreaking to the blog still have a job?? For the record, I do have thick skin and I am rather sarcastic and have a sense of humor. I do not know Witrado personally and he has never insulted me directly, but reading the mailbag just really disappointed me considering there are thousands of people on this site alone who would kill to have his job and be paid to watch the Brewers and cover them day in and day out. I considered contacting JS directly, but I thought I would get some other fans' takes first.

[jwill535]

In his defense, they dont post all of the questions. If you had to read through 100 Bill Hall, Yost, random poor playing player and critiques of your work you will become a little jaded in your responses.

[djoctagone]

I do not actually submit questions to the mailbag, but I do read this section from time to time

which segment are you being critical of? as far as i see it, the blog and the mailbag are entirely different entities. your subject line suggests you're not happy with his blog posts.

 

i'll say this . . . anthony does a better job of adding tags to blog posts than tom does.

[logan82]

djoctagone wrote:

i'll say this . . . anthony does a better job of adding tags to blog posts than tom does.

Being internet savy doesn't make you a better person.

[sweepscc]

I think he's 15 yrs old. Lay off the kid.

[bluemoundlotallstar]

In his defense, they dont post all of the questions. If you had to read through 100 Bill Hall, Yost, random poor playing player and critiques of your work you will become a little jaded in your responses.

 

I understand this to some degree, but you are in a position, in which you are an intermediary between the organization and the fans. Of course fans are going to ask some questions that are redundant and annoying, but this is part of the job. I get a bunch of idiots that call up my office and say stupid stuff or begin a conversation with, "I'm not sure if I got the right person but.....", and I don't tell them they are idiots or crack on them. I maintain a professional demeanor because I realize I am representing something larger than just myself. I think if you are going to accept all of the benefits of following this team and having all of your expenses picked up along the way, the least you can do it suck it up once a week while commenting on someone's comments or questions. I don't think Wiltrado would carry himself this way in front of fans, so I don't think this guy should get away with it just because he gets to type out his thoughts instead of responde to people face to face.

[TooLiveBrew]

Witrado is not 15.

 

I hadn't read much of his stuff, but he does have a condescending tone in most of the responses in the 5/28 mailbag. He doesn't appear to want to take the time to reply in-depth to any questions, which makes me wonder if JS has given him a certain # of responses he needs per mailbag.

 

Also, Haudricourt may be rubbing off on him...

 

Q: Dale Ziarek of centennial, CO. Milwaukee native - What do you think of Yost starting Bush once again. And if he leaves him in after the 4th inning where I expect he will start giving up runs?

 

A: Anthony Witrado - He pitched pretty well last night, but how long that lasts is a question. He hasn't put together two of those nice starts this season.

 

Actually, Bush had 3 good starts this season prior to May 28th. Why wouldn't a beat writer take the time to look into this? That's very discouraging, as all it takes is about 1 minute online. I certainly got the impression that he was either in a bad mood, or cared/s more about being condescending than informative. Don't we already have one of those guys... http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[squambaum]

I do not know how he can get away taking shots at the readers and anyone who criticizes him. Most recently when someone asked him what kind of qualifications are needed for the job or something similar, he responded with a comment about the reader mounting a horse using a ladder (referencing Napoleon I would assume). Guys like Eugene Kane I can see making comments to readers like this, because people often attack him and call him out directly, but Witrado isn't doing editorial columns that are supposed to be controversial. From my understanding, his job is to enlighten the readers and give them some more information on the Brewers, not make jokes about how little they know about baseball or the Brewers. I think it was also Witrado who posted the any rant on the blog about how people needed to stop calling out Prince for not eating meat. Obviously, the people he was writting this too were in the same boat and knew it was a tired comment and stupid, but were using it sarcastically.

He does seem condescending but to be fair he has to wade through questions from all of the "sky is falling" type of folks which would probably wear me a little thin as well (even though I can be one of them sometimes).

I think his ladder reference was refering to the reader being up on a high horse not a Napoleon thing.

[jwill535]

Due the other reasons I stated I am pretty sure they(Tom and Tony) aren't fans of doing these chats, mail bags etc. Again to be fair, pretty much all the writers(Potrykus, Crispin, etc) that do the chats have the same condescending responses.

[dadofandrew]

I have personally heard from reporters who hate Tony W and have no idea how he got this job, as they would give a reproductive organ to do so. One spoke of him wandering the press box during the game until the 7th/8th inning, before sitting down to start his story, all the while complaining about his lot in life.

 

They all hate him. His stupidity for printing bad questions is one thing, but his ignorance of answering them is off the charts.

[rluzinski]

Well, maybe they wouldn't get so many stupid questions if the people with the smart questions thought they could be answered competently by them. Ask them about a prospect, I dare you. I ask them about anything but wins and RBIs. I'd rather just rely on the collective knowledge of the people at Brewerfan.net.

 

I have no confidence that Tom H has any "insider perspective" worth listening to, either. That "Yost will be fired" post should have made that clear. Embarrassing.

 

How much do these guys get paid to do this stuff?

[TooLiveBrew]

Well, maybe they wouldn't get so many stupid questions if the people with the smart questions thought they could be answered competently by them. Ask them about a prospect, I dare you. I ask them about anything but wins and RBIs. I'd rather just rely on the collective knowledge of the people at Brewerfan.net.

 

Yeah, I certainly don't need to waste my time there when BF.net & its forums absolutely blow them out of the water. The resources here make the JS stuff look awful.

 

 

They all hate him. His stupidity for printing bad questions is one thing, but his ignorance of answering them is off the charts.

 

Interesting, yet painful to hear. Thanks for sharing, doa.

[jwill535]

Well, maybe they wouldn't get so many stupid questions if the people with the smart questions thought they could be answered competently by them. Ask them about a prospect, I dare you. I ask them about anything but wins and RBIs. I'd rather just rely on the collective knowledge of the people at Brewerfan.net.

To be fair only about 5% of people that read the paper for Brewer news care about the minor league prospects, they only care about the current team. You have to remember they have to write to the majority then the minority which pretty much everyone that posts on here is in. Talking about prospects in to some extent on par with talking about recruiting. The totally dedicated love it and want as much info as possible, which would be the 5%, everyone else only cares about who is being recruited when they get to camp and could possibly make an impact.

 

[MillerParkSouth]

I don't really know anything about either of these guys but i've always been kind of surprised at how condescending they seem in the mailbags and chats. It sometimes seems as though the only reason they post them is to take shots at readers and the questions they ask. I can understand if they're sick of all the Fire Ned/Trade Bill Hall questions, but even the legitimate questions seem to get flippant responses.

[jazzytrav]

To be fair only about 5% of people that read the paper for Brewer news care about the minor league prospects, they only care about the current team. You have to remember they have to write to the majority then the minority which pretty much everyone that posts on here is in.

I don't know that this is really fair. Many people don't really care about prospects because they've never heard of them. The only way they can hear about them is for people like Witrado and Haudricourt to talk about them. I remember years ago, I didn't care about prospects and had no idea how the minor league system even worked. Then I read an article in the J-S about Fielder and Weeks and Gwynn when they were still in their first year or two, and it got me excited. I knew nothing of BF.net, so the only place I knew to go for info on anything to do with the Brewers was the J-S.

 

I always found it annoying to hear that writers don't write about something because no one wants to hear about it. Well, of course they don't want to hear about it. It's new to them, and people are afraid of new stuff. So make it not new.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

He got his job because he's a minority and so is Garry Howard, the clown editor at the JS. It is almost unheard of for someone that young to get a beat job with a professional team. They booted Rick Braun off the beat and gave it AW. Braun was not perfect, but he was a hell of a lot more tactful than AW. He at least didn't do anything to warrant losing his job, but that's Garry Howard for you.

[Bring Back the Stein]

He got his job because he's a minority and so is Garry Howard, the clown editor at the JS. It is almost unheard of for someone that young to get a beat job with a professional team. They booted Rick Braun off the beat and gave it AW. Braun was not perfect, but he was a hell of a lot more tactful than AW. He at least didn't do anything to warrant losing his job, but that's Garry Howard for you.

Garry Howard is a clown, but no more a clown than the rest of the editors at that paper. Race has nothing to do with it. They're clowns without regard to their skin color. The suggestion that someone got a position because of their race is highly inflammatory, no matter if you believe it or not. In any case, I don't think it's appropriate for this venue.

[brains and braun]

The Journal-Sentinel has editors? Since when? I might renew my subscription.

[1992casey]

He at least didn't do anything to warrant losing his job...

 

Rick's knowledge of the minors was abhorrent. A typical answer started with "the last I heard," and then he'd say something that was about a month old. As far as any detail, forget it.

 

As for the race thing, let's cut it off right here before it sidetracks the thread and causes temptation to escalate it into something that's inappropriate.

[crewcrazy]

The MJS as a whole is pretty much a mess. It's really a shame that they can't seem to hire anyone who'll do a respectable job getting news out to the readers. There's a lot of up-and-coming young writers out there that are twice as talented that would kill for the chance to cover a big league team. Just promoting the guy they had covering Preps to the Brewers beat shows how much effort they really put into the search.

[endaround]

Witrado seems to be the guy who keeps harping on the strikeouts each and every time he can. It's in some ways amazing that you can have lots of people who love baseball and go out of their way to understand it, and then you have guys who feel put upon having to do what's basically a 3/4 a year job. Yes, the travel can be tough and the hours not set, but most other jobs don't feed you.

[lcbj68c]

Yes, the travel can be tough and the hours not set, but most other jobs don't feed you.

I agree with your post, just dont get what you are getting at here?

[TooLiveBrew]

Press gets meals at ballparks. It's a nice perk, even if the food is just crummy 'catered' (aka frozen & cooked or fried stuff).

[lcbj68c]

Press gets meals at ballparks. It's a nice perk, even if the food is just crummy 'catered' (aka frozen & cooked or fried stuff).

The meals aren't free.

[1992casey]

I'd bet that the meals are paid for by the press representatives' employers. They'd certainly have a meal allowance on the road.