Koskie to play for Team Canada in WBC / Signs with Cubs; Latest-- Decides to retire (reply #50)

[billyhallfan]

I just saw that on the bottom line of MLBN, that is too bad...but at the same time, I hope he can find a way back.

[Fatter than Joey]

Agreed -- I'm glad he is working somewhere

[PaulRigdon]

Good for Corey but I am very upset. He is in my top 5 players of all time, infact I have a twins koskie jersey and a brewers koskie jersey and now he's a cub! YUCK!

[Never Outhustled]

Koskie has been injury prone for years, and that was before his concussion. I wouldn't worry about him being any help to the Cubs.

[RyDogg66]

Come on, the cubs? Why oh why...

[mothershipconnection]

If Koskie sees playing time for the Cubs, it's still a good thing for us. You'd have to imagine we and other teams with weak 3B situations all passed up on him before he went to Chicago.

[BrewCrewForever]

I wish he got a job anywhere other then with the Cubs.

[Bikeage77]

Uecker was just talking about Koskie during the game. He said he signed with Kansas City (I'm sure he meant Chicago), then followed that up with "Is he still wacked out?" followed by "remember when he came to Milwaukee saying he was okay, well, he wasn't"

 

It seemed out of character for Uecker to come off like a jerk on the radio. In person it's coming to be expected.

[GormanHarvey]

Uecker was just talking about Koskie during the game. He said he signed with Kansas City (I'm sure he meant Chicago), then followed that up with "Is he still wacked out?" followed by "remember when he came to Milwaukee saying he was okay, well, he wasn't"

 

It seemed out of character for Uecker to come off like a jerk on the radio. In person it's coming to be expected.

I was just commenting about this in the IGT. I couldn't believe it. Not sure if you heard it but he went on to say more. He did reaffirm my belief that Koskie must have not been entirely healthy before that happened because it was a very soft fall he took.

[tyguy20204]

Yeah, it was quite odd. Uecker mentioned that Koskie liked to play a lot of stupid practical jokes. Maybe Uecker was the victim of some crude humor?

[Nottso]

It certainly sounded to me like Uecker had/has a personal axe to grind with Koskie. I'm still somewhat confused about it all.

[ILuvDaBush]

Well we DID steal Casey McGehee from them. Which player do you think will get more AB's this year?

[cubfan1126]

This signing by the Cubs has got to no more than a little insurance to back up third base.

Right now the only replacements for Ramirez are Miles (a second baseman) and Fontenot (a second baseman) and the 2 of them are also the backups to Theriot.

 

I'm also certain that Koskie will get plenty of time at Iowa or Tennessee before he is added to the Chicago roster.

[JohnBriggs12]

Even if he's completely healthy, at 36 and out of the game for nearly 3 years, I would suspect his skills have eroded noticeably.

 

I would guess he's signed to one of those deals where if he's not on the Cub major league roster by a certain date, he can choose to become a FA. Typically, agents for players in those type situations just want to find a place to play to show other teams as well but they don't want to lock their guy in the minors if another opportunity opens up.

 

Right now, the Cubs don't have room for him on their roster. Unless Ramirez went down for considerable time, Koskie won't be in Chicago. The Cub bench is pretty much set: R. Johnson, Hoffpauir, Gathright, Miles or Fontenot, and Bako.

[Spidey]

I wouldn't take anything Ueck said about Koskie seriously. When Koskie went down and for awhile afterward, Ueck talked about the seriousness of concussions, and he brought up Matheny on the air yesterday. He jokes about people all the time. Look what he says about Kent in the booth, and about his own playing career. His comments toward Koskie may have come off a bit rough, but I took that to be typical Uecker sarcasm.

[Bikeage77]

At the time it didn't come off as very playful. Poking fun at a guy you work with in the booth, or yourself, is said in a different tone than his mentions of Koskie. I heard the Matheny part, and his talks, but Uecker made Matheny out to be some kind of hero (He wanted in the lineup the next day to not become "gunshy").

 

That's just my take on the whole thing, Uecker may have been playing around, but his tone wasn't coming off that way.

[Paul77]

My favorite part from Uecker Re Koskie:

 

"Kent, did I see that Corey Koskie signed with the Royals? No, The Cubs? Ok. It's the Cubs that have lost their mind then."

[mls4]

Uecker also said that he likes Corey Koskie..... now that he's gone.

 

It was a bit odd but I took it all as a big joke. Apparently Koskie was a jokester while he was here.

[Invader3K]

Suddenly seems like it's become in fashion to rip on Mr. Baseball around here. I'm sure he was just joking about Koskie.

[rooobideaux]

I don't know if Uecker is letting us in on the behind-the-scenes or not; but, from listening to Minneapolis sports radio, I understand that Koskie was quite upset at Brewers management for their 'handling' of his situation. Possibly feeling a lack of support and understanding of his condition. I know Uecker has talked down other players on air (Chad Fox for one) who he felt have taken shots at the organization after they have left Milwaukee.

[Invader3K]

I don't know how Koskie could criticize the Brewers. What did they do or not do with him that would upset him? They paid him for basically a year and a half where he didn't play one game of baseball.

[lukevan]

According to Kelsie Smith of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Corey has at least a little bitterness toward the Brewers over their failures in treating his post-concussion syndrome. Can't really say that I blame him as the trainers didn't even believe anything was wrong with him.

[Never Outhustled]

While I too am disappointed in the Brewers medical staff, I can't fault them in this situation. Getting the mother of all concussions from landing on your butt isn't exactly normal, and Koskie went from specialist to specialist before he found one who could diagnose his extremely rare condition.

[Tisko]

Might be over for Koskie. Bad news. .

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/a...hc&partnerId=rss_chc

[hawing]

Oh, man, that's a shame. At least he can't say he didn't give it a try.

 

(The writer got the date wrong in that cubs.com story; Corey hasn't played since July 2006, not 2007.)