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2020 Around the MLB Thread

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Anyone that thinks Kluber will regain the form he had in his prime as an Indian will almost certainly be disappointed. That doesn't mean he can't log some quality innings and help the Yankees' rotation. Like you said Jup, at what level he can get to is to be seen.

Would I be speaking incorrectly by assuming that Kluber is a good teammate and will help in anyway he can, but is not outspoken? If you want information from him then you'll have to ask for it is how he strikes me. More of a lead by example type?
Kluber is a fine teammate, just not a leader. Whether it is clubhouse or pitching staff leader. Just not in his DNA.

Willing to help other pitchers but he has a hard time doing it in an intellectual form because he is not a teacher. Just not in his DNA. He is definitely a lead by example guy. And if you are looking for routine examples, or mound presence or something you can view from afar - it works great. But hands on - not so much.
 
Kluber is a fine teammate, just not a leader. Whether it is clubhouse or pitching staff leader. Just not in his DNA.

Willing to help other pitchers but he has a hard time doing it in an intellectual form because he is not a teacher. Just not in his DNA. He is definitely a lead by example guy. And if you are looking for routine examples, or mound presence or something you can view from afar - it works great. But hands on - not so much.
Seems about right to me jup. Thanks!
 
On another note, old friend Scott Kazmir is attempting a comeback at age 37...and five years away from his last MLB appearance.

I love these kind of stories...hope he beats the odds.
 
On another note, old friend Scott Kazmir is attempting a comeback at age 37...and five years away from his last MLB appearance.

I love these kind of stories...hope he beats the odds.

Too bad we arent bringing him back. I don't like our left handed depth so he could be a fun person to mix in and we have a good track record for bringing guys back to the pros.
 
On another note, old friend Scott Kazmir is attempting a comeback at age 37...and five years away from his last MLB appearance.

I love these kind of stories...hope he beats the odds.
The funny thing about Kazmir is how much he was paid to not pitch. Seriously, half of his career earnings came while he was Injured.
 
For all the naysayers that refused to believe it was common knowledge within the Cleveland organization AND for all that believed there was no reason for having a disgust for Callaway that superseded whatever he did on the field either good or bad. Out of the Athletic today.

Since the publication of The Athletic’s first article, more women have come forward to say that Callaway made them uncomfortable by sending them inappropriate messages and/or photos, making unwanted advances and more while they worked for the Indians. Additionally, in 2017, an angry husband repeatedly called the team’s fan services department to complain that Callaway had sent “pornographic material” to his wife. Those calls were brought to the attention of Antonetti, manager Terry Francona and general manager Mike Chernoff; the Indians spoke with Callaway about the matter. A Cleveland attorney spoke with the wife and said – in a phone call that was recorded – that Callaway had expressed remorse to him. The attorney added that “the Indians are frickin’ pissed as hell” at Callaway and offered to have Francona call the husband. Additionally, an MLB security official contacted the husband and told him: “Mickey wants this all to go away,” and the husband later emailed MLB directly about Callaway.

Over the past month, The Athletic has interviewed 22 people who interacted with Callaway during his years in the Indians organization, including 12 current and former employees. They say that Callaway’s sexual indiscretions permeated the workplace to such an extent that it would have been difficult for top officials to not be aware of his behavior, and they push back against any assertion that Callaway’s actions, when made public by The Athletic last month, caught team executives or MLB by surprise.


My first knowledge dated back to 2013, and came from the player ranks. At first I assumed it was the general womanizing that one associates with professional athletes. Didn't take long to figure out this had a different nature to it, and I was never even a employee of the org. Hard to believe the org had no knowledge when it was such an open topic within the clubhouse in general.

And there was knowledge of it outside the org also, as I was told in '17 by an agent friend, that - Cleveland had a problem in the pitching coach ranks and knew it. And there was real potential for a change.
 
Baseball doesn't want to have this snowball start rolling down the mountain.

Female journalists alone would descend from the heavens to tell the most disgusting tales of perverted athletes and their conduct off the field.



The more they deny it, the worse it will be,
 
And there was knowledge of it outside the org also, as I was told in '17 by an agent friend, that - Cleveland had a problem in the pitching coach ranks and knew it. And there was real potential for a change.
Did you take that to mean they may have fired him if he had not moved to the Mets?
 
Did you take that to mean they may have fired him if he had not moved to the Mets?
YES - I was told that a change could be happen at any moment. And I know that the agents line to the org was Antonetti.

I also know that when the Mets offered him the job, Cleveland brass almost pushed him out the door, and breathed a huge sigh of relief when he was hired as they knew they had a "big problem" off their hands.
 
It wasn’t long before women in the office talked about his behavior; five current or former employees say they were warned about Callaway by others, the message unambiguous: Stay away from him.

In 2015, the wives of multiple Indians’ players began discussing what they perceived to be an extramarital relationship that Callaway was in with a woman who was around the team. Some wives shared those concerns with their husbands, and those concerns were conveyed to at least one department head and another staffer, though no formal complaint was filed with human resources or any other department, a source said.

“You definitely knew he had a lot of other women on the side,” said the wife of an Indians player that year. “He was just someone you wanted to stay away from.”

Also in 2015, Callaway brought another woman he was dating on road trips and they stayed together at the team hotel. That included a September series in Detroit where they stayed at the MGM Grand Hotel and a trip to MLB’s annual winter meetings in Nashville
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So it was watercooler talk in the office and women at the team hotel on the road, but the management didn't know ????

Give me a break - I knew, agents knew - and neither are even on the inside of the org. Francona knew, and he either condoned it or just turned a blind eye. That is where the distaste and dislike for Francona started for me. And then it grew surrounding several other incidents (not all Callaway related) that I was aware of all the way to
2019.
 
YES - I was told that a change could be happen at any moment. And I know that the agents line to the org was Antonetti.

I also know that when the Mets offered him the job, Cleveland brass almost pushed him out the door, and breathed a huge sigh of relief when he was hired as they knew they had a "big problem" off their hands.
On one level I look at this as "good" that they would have fired him for these harassment cases (as well as the accompanying appalling character issues), but unfortunate that because he left, it was all swept under the rug. I do not doubt this is typical in a number of corporate settings (and certainly across baseball), but bad all the same.
 
Perhaps the Indians were unaware that Callaway was harassing female employees, even sometimes on the field before games, and messaging them via social media apps, causing women to warn each other about his conduct and at least one former staffer to coin the phrase “the Mickey treatment.” Perhaps the team was unaware he was taking lewd photos in the locker room and sharing them with women. Perhaps the complaints from players’ wives never reached the executive suite.

But Antonetti’s declaration that “there had never been any complaints against Mickey in his time with us, either to me or to our human resources department or other leaders,” prompted multiple people who interacted with Callaway during his time in the Indians organization to contact The Athletic and accuse Antonetti of being evasive.

“(Those) comments hit me the wrong way,” said one former Indians employee. “I know that’s the way Chris has to do it and run things, but the amount of people in that organization who know about all that stuff, I don’t know how he can then face his staff.”
 
As there was no reference to him in the article, I am assuming Dolan knew little if anything about these situations., He does not appear to be part of the day to day...which has always been a good thing in baseball terms. I'm not sure how he will now feel in the wake of this article, etc...
 
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