Idiots Write About Sports

I don’t subscribe to a major metropolitan newspaper. I read the San Francisco Chronicle.
I don’t know if I used to appreciate Bruce Jenkins more because he used to be better, or because I used to be a bit more impressionable. Either way, the past few years I have found an increasing percentage of what he writes to be nonsensical. Most of it I’ve written off to him becoming a cranky old man. But it’s getting worse.

Critics say the Diamondbacks didn’t have the cash to spend this freely on the free-agent market. They wonder about [Troy] Glaus’ shoulder and the fact that [Ryss] Ortiz lost his job in the Atlanta rotation. Listen, if you’re Arizona management, these are worthwhile gambles, and fans don’t care about the money. These two players — along with Shawn Green, Royce Clayton, Craig Counsell and Javier Vazquez — could lift the Diamondbacks back into contention.

Excuse me while I chuckle quietly to myself.
“Fans don’t care about the money” is a direct shot at the analytical types who suggest that Glaus and Ortiz aren’t worth the money. But it’s a ridiculous statement on its face. No, fans don’t care about payroll numbers. But they do care about ticket prices going up because their team has sunk even deeper into debt; they do care about a team that was among the worst in baseball mortgaging its future on overpaid players; they do care that the Diamondbacks might be setting themselves up for five more years of failure.
I don’t care about how much money the Giants are paying Edgardo Alfonzo or Mike Matheny, or how much they paid into the college fund of Robb Nen’s children. But I do care that he was such a horrible signing that the Giants have blown money they might have spent in some other place, on a player who actually could have helped.
Also in today’s Chronicle, the report that Yahoo will hold a Fantasy League contest, the winner of which will be Brian Sabean’s assistant for a year. I could not have imagined a more amusing way for Sabean to give the Sabermetrics crowd the finger. You’ve got to admit, that guy’s got a certain kind of style.