Macha's choice of words.....

[Nottso]

In more than one article lately, I've read direct quotes from Macha wherein he refers to players as "inventory." For some reason, I find that just a little unsettling. I think I'd find it even more unsettling if I were one of the persons referred to as "inventory." Has anyone else noticed this, and if so, do you also find it somewhat odd? I'm not overly upset by it, I just find it a rather strange choice of words. Maybe it's just this year's catch phrase and we'll get to read it hundreds, if not thousands, of times. Any thoughts?

[hawing]

I'd certainly rather be referred to as a person.

[BrewersSuperCollector]

I'm just a social security number at work. There is sort of a weight off my shoulders knowing my employers treating me like a number.

[TooLiveBrew]

Macha seems to use some odd words/phrases sometimes. I don't think it's anything more than just a personality quirk, but it's kind of weird sometimes.

[Schlitz001]

He has a number of combination and permutations when referring to his inventory. It's enough to put you in a bit of a zim-zam.

[dadofandrew]

I would much prefer that than to have an unhealthy fixation on veterans who can't hit now and haven't hit for half a decade.

 

Not to give it away, but his name rhymes with Busty Daker.

[BREWERPRIDE]

C'mon, its really not that big of deal.

 

Anyone in the right mind knows what he means and knows he respects his players, he is a quiet manager, I just think people look to much into interviews and articles just to find something negative about it.

[Nottso]

C'mon, its really not that big of deal.

 

Well, I certainly didn't mean to make a big deal of it. I was simply commenting on his choice of words.

[pete]

Where did he use the word?

[monty57]

I would much prefer that than to have an unhealthy fixation on veterans who can't hit now and haven't hit for half a decade.

 

Not to give it away, but his name rhymes with Busty Daker.

After reading the first sentence, I thought the names rhymed with Spank Fratalanatto, Mason Trendle, Gory Fatterson and Slim Redmonds

 

 

[RockCoCougars]

Well maybe that's good if he used the HIFO method which is defined as, "a distribution method in which the inventory with the highest cost of purchase is the first to be used or taken out of stock". If Suppan was taken out of stock, I think that would be a good thing.

[Ennder]

After reading the first sentence, I thought the names rhymed with Spank Fratalanatto, Mason Trendle, Gory Fatterson and Slim Redmonds

 

Well with Trendle he didn't really have another option and the other guys didn't really play, so hard to say he was fixated on them.

[hawing]

If I ever see a Fratalanatto, Trendle, Fatterson or Redmonds jersey at MP, I'm introducing myself, because the wearer is bound to be a bf.net kindred spirit. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Nottso]

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brewers/88304832.html

 

In the above article, it's actually Doug Melvin that uses "inventory," and in a fairly innocuous way. I probably wouldn't even have noticed it this time, had I not seen it once or twice in the past few days.

 

I'll try and dig up the other one(s). I know there was at least one more, and in that article it was a really strange word for the context, like he (Macha or Melvin) referred to the entire roster as "our inventory." If it turns out to have been Melvin each time, that's it; I'm having my wife drive me to the home. The senility has clearly taken over. Incontinence must surely be next.

 

And like I said from the start, this isn't anything that upsets me in the least; I just found it rather quirky, and I know some other bf.netters are kind of "into" words and their usage.

[joepepsi]

I see it as an extensive of Billy Beane style operations where you build a team by exploiting markets, using economies of scale, and other economic/business models. If I'm right, then I like it because instead of being emotionally tied to certain players, it means an organization is more committed to building the most successful team possible.

[JimH5]

I'm much more comfortable with the GM or owner referring to his players as inventory than I am a field manager. He's supposed to be the guy who gets the most out of those players, and I can't see how you could be successful in that job without some humanity.

 

Unless we have a team of bots. . .In which case, Domo arigato.

[Thurston Fluff]

I think sports in particular is one in which the players know full well, as a group, they are more or less treated as cattle. There is no other business where you trade your employee for moeny or someone else. You get dumped as soon as someone else can do your job either cheaper, better or is younger with more potential. At that time you get booted to the curb or moved like a piece of meat. Then you go from place to place having people examine you both physically and mentally then, at their leisure, tell you if they have any interest in you. In exchange for that dehumanizing treatment they get a chance to get rich playing a game.

 

I would assume when talking to them individually on the job Macha treats them like a person but as a group could very well take a step back and look at them as the commodity they are.