Official Steve Phillips is an idiot thread

[PrimeTime955]

Tonight on BB Tonight he had the brewers trading for Jeff Conine and made a comment that Braun hits all of his homers to left center. Taking a brief look at his spray chart. (Couldn't find the Dolphin Stadium HR) It looks like He's hit 3 to left, 3 to left center, 3 to center, 2 to right center, and 2 to RF. Where does he get his info?

[jazzytrav]

I believe most of his info comes from Steinbrenner, the Schwab, and the magical fairy.

 

I remember when he was pretending to be the Yankees GM during a mock interview. That stuff was priceless. I wish I could give examples, but I hear so little out of his mouth that makes sense.

 

BBTN really needs Harold Reynolds back, in my opinion.

[AJhawk50]

Yeah I had to laugh at that too. When he said it all I was thinking was ok.... Braun has power to all fields and has shown it since being called up.

 

Also, what's with Kruk? He has some anti-Brewers in him. "Ughhh, Braun likes to admire his work a little bit doesn't he?" Not too mention all the "Lou sparked the team! Lou sparked the team!" crap that ESPN is spitting out.

 

I miss Harold Reynolds too but he was charged with sexual harrassment on an ESPN employee.

 

EDIT: removed cuss abbrev - brian

[RightFieldCoder]

I have to think, "I hope all our opponents think the same thing and try to overpower him with fastballs on the outside half." Or maybe he confused Braun and Hardy. They do look similar and have close to the same last name.

[hauser42]

Harold Reynolds brought very little to the table. Steve Phillips gives that show a side of baseball that very few out there can offer. Now he may not have been a great GM but he does give you what is going on in a GMs mind.

 

Jeff Conine is the type of player the Brewers will be looking for, a veteran presence that can play OF/1B in a reserve role. Who do you think they are going to go after??

[cruiserx43]

Harold Reynolds brought very little to the table.

 

And what my friend do Kruk, Vina, or Young bring to the table that Reynolds lacked so much of?

 

I really don't mind Steve Phillips all that much, but in the end they all make some incorrect assumptions because they don't see but a few at bats unlike most of brew nation.

[Bruce Ciskie]

The guys who should be on that show every night are Hershiser, Gammons, Kurkjian, Olney, and Stark.

 

Hershiser is the only one of their regular game analysts that doesn't consistently suck at his job.

[PKBadger]

Quote:

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I miss Harold Reynolds too but he was charged with sexual harrassment on an ESPN employee.

---

 

 

.....in one of the biggest hatchet jobs ever. Sean Salisbury still has a job. I was glad to see that MLB.com hired Reynolds to provide online analysis, and I'm guessing he'll have a presence on The Baseball Network when it starts up in 2009.

[Bruce Ciskie]

The groundswell of support for HR when he got fired was hilarious.

 

The guy was barely tolerable, and that was only because he was surrounded by even bigger idiots. His only redeeming quality was the work he did on the College and Little League World Series. And if Hershiser's work in Omaha this year is any indication, we won't be missing HR much when the Little Leaguers fire it up later in the summer.

[homer]

Agree with Bruce. Other than Orel, no former player has been useful at all. They all pretty much sucketity suck suck (and that includes Reynolds). I'd rather they have Gammons, Olney, and Kurkjian on every night than some jock that can't put a sentence together.

[jwill535]

The thing i like about Orel(tee hee) is that i feel like i being taught something everytime. Even though i already know it i find it facisnating.

[pretendastronaut]

Kruk was also ripping on CoCo's little sign of the cross thing he does before he pitches last night. ESPN really seems more excited to see the Cubs take the division lately. They even had a story on espn.com the other day titled "Something Brewin'" and it was about the Cubs. Seems like if the Yanks can't turn it around, they're going to jump on the Cubs boat.

[Bruce Ciskie]

By the way, it doesn't feel right ripping Kruk, Phillips, Vina, Destrade, and whoever else is on BBTN without throwing a shot in at Sutcliffe. After his three-hour Cub love fest, I can't believe he'd ever be allowed to work a Cubs game again as long as he's at ESPN. But since ESPN doesn't care about such things, I'm sure he'll be right back out there.

 

What's Steve Stone doing these days? I don't see many ESPN games, but I don't recall hearing him at all this season. He is another guy who has been on ESPN that can actually analyze baseball without saying incredibly dumb things.

[T B0NE 10]

The baseball networK??? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif when is this channel coming??? It must be a gift from god!

[Thurston Fluff]

ESPN really seems more excited to see the Cubs take the division lately. They even had a story on espn.com the other day titled "Something Brewin'" and it was about the Cubs. Seems like if the Yanks can't turn it around, they're going to jump on the Cubs boat.

 

I don't have a problem with them jumping on the Cubs bandwagon at this time. They are one of the hottest teams in baseball and, as a daily show, they should be going with the best performers during that time. Like it or not the Cubs are hot right now and should be getting some attention. It will go away when the Cubs cool down and they will cool down.

[homer]

And before we get all over ESPN for loving the Cubs. let's not forget that the Brewers were the darlings of the baseball world when they were 24-10.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Baseball Tonight used to be a show with well informed baseball reporters who had spent many years before joining the show as beat writers for various MLB teams. They had reliable sources to give them consistently accurate and good information to contribute to the show. As time has passed, the show has become garbage, largely due to the glut of moronic ex-players that ESPN has hired to contribute to the show. It seems like they'd rather get a guy in that will read off whatever the BooYah network puts in front of them on the teleprompter rather than get explayers who actually know the game.

 

Another reason as to why Baseball tonight has suffered has been that the same former beat writers (Gammons, Olney, Stark, etc) appear content to collect their paychecks while spitting out random rumors and trade possibilities without doing the same research/investigation they needed to do when they were beat writers. This can be easily seen by the Kendall trade last night, since it took several hours for ESPN analysts to stop mentioning that Marshall was part of that deal, even when there was information everywhere that Blevins was the pitcher involved.

 

As for Steve Phillips, how this guy was a GM in one of baseball's largest markets never ceases to amaze me. He's uninformed, and to make it worse, he fails to acknowledge that and portrays himself like he's spent tireless hours researching his nuggets of wisdom that he spits out. "Ryan Braun hits most of his homers to left center..." Wow, Steve, you mean to tell me that Braun, a right handed hitter, hits most of his home runs to left field, the natural power alley for right-handed hitters? I'm no baseball 'expert', but I bet Babe Ruth hit most of his homers to right field. The great thing about Phillips' Braun comment is that Braun's home runs have been scattered all over the place!

 

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[Bruce Ciskie]

Quote:

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And before we get all over ESPN for loving the Cubs. let's not forget that the Brewers were the darlings of the baseball world when they were 24-10.

---

 

Well, if ESPN had spent five minutes talking about the Brewers the way they spent three hours talking about the Cubs last night, I probably wouldn't be that annoyed with the Cub love.

 

The closest they came to any Brewer love came in that St. Louis game, but since it was the day after Josh Hancock died, they spent more time making excuses for every little thing a St. Louis player did wrong that night.

[fstorm1]

Phillips for me is the poster child of the vomit being spit out by the once great ESPN. Yet another reason to avoid that channel.

[joepepsi]

Fear the Chorizo hits a home run with that post! Thank you!

 

I quit watching BBTN about 4 years ago. Just can't take. What I find most annoying is the way everybody on ESPN just makes crap up and no one ever calls them on it.

 

For instance, I can say, Mike Cameron has lost a step in CF. Now, I haven't seen Cameron play hardly at all this year. If he's lost a step, I wouldn't know. But by making something up, it appears I am knowledgeable of what's going on in San Diego. Soon, other might take what I've stated and add to it. Within a week it turns into story about the Padres being upset with Cameron's poor play and desperate to dump him. Who to? Well, the Yankees of course!

[GenoSeligPrieb]

I think the only reasons Steve Phillips is on ESPN are:

 

- He's a former GM. Whether he was any good at it or not, doesn't matter. And if he WAS talented, he'd be one of those in management who uses ESPN or Fox as a career rest stop on his way to his next gig, a la Bill Parcells, Lou Piniella and next, Joe Girardi. I'm surprised ESPN hasn't started some rumors about Phillips being mentioned as a candidate for the GM job in (insert struggling franchise here) to artificially boost his street cred. They will soon...

 

- Phillips generally managed a New York team. This gives him at least SOME cache in the New York market, which is all ESPN cares about anyway.

 

- Steve is comparatively photogenic, and doesn't stumble reading the TelePrompTer.

 

I found myself turning down the volume to "Mute" during the Home Run Derby last week when they cut in (migod, they really DO have to control every sports broadcast they air, don't they?) and showed those brain-dead pieces from Phillips and Kruk where they stand in front of another dumb-ass stage floor painted as a mini playing field. After the first 7 participants experienced difficulty homering in the first round, Kruk said "Well, next up is Ryan Howard, and all he needs is 5 to qualify for Round 2! Will he make it?" Phillips replied "There's ABSOLUTELY NO QUESTION WHATSOEVER!" Of course, Howard had a tough time battling the sun and wind, and did NOT reach round 2, so there WAS a question whether he'd make it.

 

Migod, that's irritating.

 

In classic sports talk radio speak, Phillips played one of the older tricks in the book, by expressing a Strong Opinion. He may not believe it, 5 minutes after that day's show, but at that time, he's supposed to furrow his brow, read the TelePrompTer, and play-act.

 

I'll bet if you asked this Ken doll the next morning whether he genuinely believed Ryan Howard would make Round 2, he'd ask "I can't remember. Which guy was I supposed to be supporting, again?"

[hauser42]

Another reason as to why Baseball tonight has suffered has been that the same former beat writers (Gammons, Olney, Stark, etc) appear content to collect their paychecks while spitting out random rumors and trade possibilities without doing the same research/investigation they needed to do when they were beat writers. This can be easily seen by the Kendall trade last night, since it took several hours for ESPN analysts to stop mentioning that Marshall was part of that deal, even when there was information everywhere that Blevins was the pitcher involved

 

Kendall trade has nothing to do with those guys you mentioned. Do have an inside source that told you they were laying on the couch last night?

 

Peter Gammons is a highly regarded man in the baseball community. Its your right to have a different view, but still supplies a ton of inside information to ESPN with his contacts. The Dali Lama should never be messed with he has come back from near death to be at the top of his game again. When you talk about rumors and what he gives out, it is the same stuff he did when he first hit ESPN.

 

Timmy and Stark are decent guys that have a niche with what they bring to the table, but they dont reach the level of Pete.

[crossface21]

Pretty much all the former players on BBTN bring nothing to the table. They read whatever ESPN wants them to say and that's about it. Sometimes they toss in a something we may not know, but most of it sucks. I used to watch the show every night, now I'm happier talking to my girlfriend.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Kendall trade has nothing to do with those guys you mentioned. Do have an inside source that told you they were laying on the couch last night?

 

Well, they weren't on the Baseball Tonight show last night to report the trade, were they? One would think that if they truly did have insider information that their network would be better prepared to deliver correct information on the trade. All of the other entities covering baseball were able to, why couldn't ESPN? They were broadcasting the Cubs own game, for pete's sake.

 

For every rumor that the likes of Gammons, Olney, and the rest of the experts with supposed inside information get right, they get 10-15 wrong. I'm not arguing that Gammons isn't a great baseball guy - he is far enough removed from the clubhouses and gm's offices at this point in his career to be able to provide little more than insight and opinions. That's not necessarily a bad thing, because I respect the experience Gammons draws from regarding baseball. I just take whatever speculation the ESPN gurus give for what it is, speculation that just about any knowledgeable baseball fan can come up with on his/her own. NOT insider information.

 

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[FVBrewerFan]

It's very simple really. BBT like all ESPN programming is about entertainment, not information. Years ago, information WAS the entertainment. A 24 hour a day sports news channel- what a concept!! We couldn't wait for SC each day to get scores and highlights.

 

Now with all the competition ou there, ESPN feels information isn't good enough. In fact information isn't anywhere near a priority. They want talking heads that the masses find to be entertaining.