Comments on: A.J. Pierzynski speaks about his reputation as a clubhouse cancer and overall jerkface

By: blackandbluedivision

blackandbluedivision — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 15:37:12 +0000

Because of this deal?! No.

By: comeonnowguys

comeonnowguys — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 13:11:31 +0000

I respect that he owns the whole jerkass thing. Always have.

However, you can’t be that guy and make snide comments about the “political” nature of All-Star selections. Lie in the bed you’ve made, AJ–it’s not that bad in the scheme of things.

By: wineasart

wineasart — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 11:18:13 +0000

Hey backandblue, Twins got two(rings that is).

By: blackandbluedivision

blackandbluedivision — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 04:23:57 +0000

Yea exactly. I’m just saying. You got a pretty awesome group of players for Pierzynski in hopes of a title. Yet, he ends up with a division rival and wins the ring that the Twinkies are still hunting for.

By: mplsjoe

mplsjoe — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 01:20:27 +0000

The WS’ ring had nothing to do with that trade.

By: petey1999

petey1999 — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 23:16:43 +0000

LOL. What a great quote.

By: kkolchak

kkolchak — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 22:58:44 +0000

As a White Sox fan, so was I.

By: gabeguterres

gabeguterres — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 22:09:20 +0000

I remember hearing it was Jason Schmidt who called him a “cancer.” It seems he’d have a little more credibility than, say … Herges. What with the not sucking and everything.

By: billymc75

billymc75 — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 21:54:58 +0000

You left out cry baby as well

By: frightwig

frightwig — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 21:23:53 +0000

Of course, A.J. posted an 86 OPS+ that year with the Giants (significantly beneath his numbers with the Twins), local media spread gossip that he wouldn’t work with his pitchers and once even kneed a Giants trainer in the balls (probably apocryphal, but never mind), and Giants closer Matt Herges was terrible while the reliever Brian Sabean gave up in the Pierzynski deal, Joe Nathan, was already a terrific closer for the Twins. The Giants also lost the division to that Dodgers by just 2 games, which made A.J. and that trade even bigger targets of blame. It’s no wonder that Giants fans were happy to see him go.

It’s also worth noting that the Giants actually got worse at Catcher with Mike Matheny in 2005-6, and the team pitching staff’s ERA+ also declined, while Pierzynski helped the White Sox win a World Series in a year when he caught the best pitching staff in the league.

By: ftbramwell

ftbramwell — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 20:46:50 +0000

Dude, unless you’re a professional athlete or a personal, you do not have “first hand knowledge of AJ.” You may know a lot about him based on what you hear in the media. But your status as a “hardcore Twins fan” doesn’t give you “firsthand knowledge.”

By: pisano

pisano — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 20:36:45 +0000

My mistake, thanks.

By: blackandbluedivision

blackandbluedivision — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 20:35:23 +0000

Yep. I am.

By: ezthinking

ezthinking — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 20:13:52 +0000

Not with AJ, unless you’re talking about the White Sox who picked up AJ as a FA for 2005 and their WS ring.

By: blackandbluedivision

blackandbluedivision — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 20:03:27 +0000

That was a pretty sweet deal. Except we got the ring.

By: kjkulsrud

kjkulsrud — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 19:39:23 +0000

As a hardcore Twins fan I have first hand knowledge of AJ… personally I applaude him every time he comes to the plate at Target Field… he fetched us a pretty nice hand in the trade to San Fran (Nathan, Liriano, Bonser) and while he is a “jerkface”, he is also known as a great guy to have on your team.

One of those, if he’s on your team, you love him being a little bit of a jerk to the other team… if he’s on the other team, you have to hate him…

By: jdd428

jdd428 — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 19:38:02 +0000

I mean Michael Barrett. Sorry, the original post threw me off.

By: jdd428

jdd428 — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 19:36:45 +0000

Where’s Marty Barrett today? I’ll tell you where he’s not – in the majors having one of the best seasons among catchers this year.

By: blackandbluedivision

blackandbluedivision — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 19:33:59 +0000

Everybody hates this man except anybody on the southside of Chicago. The guy has been here 8 years.

Ozzie Guillen, summed up the situation as, “If you play against him, you hate him. If you play with him, you hate him a little less.”

By: ccmf69

ccmf69 — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 19:33:24 +0000

I was glad to see him leave SF…

By: jjschiller

jjschiller — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 19:30:36 +0000

“One guy came out and said it… Might have been Tomko. I think it was Herges. But coulda been lotsa other guys. I mean, everbody thinks I’m an asshat. But yeah, just that one guy didn’t like me.”

By: Kevin Gillman

Kevin Gillman — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 19:15:49 +0000

Jake Taylor did too, come to think of it. And those hitters STILL couldn’t touch Rick Vaughn’s Fastball.

By: mydadyourmom

mydadyourmom — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 19:15:03 +0000

Who cares? I’m sure his current teammates like havin him around.

By: delawarephilliesfan

delawarephilliesfan — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 19:14:20 +0000

“didn’t Crash Davis give the other team signs? ”

Yes, Nuke LaLouche shook him off – and it was solely for the purpose of teachim him to NOT think on the mound, just use his raw talent and throw. So it wasn’t with ill intent, and both times the game was well out of hand.

Just sayin’……

By: kkolchak

kkolchak — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 18:53:26 +0000

A.J. will always be loved among Pale Hose fans for being a big catalyst that finally brought the team its World Series title. Clearly, the White Sox organization must like him or at least tolerate him as he’s been there eight years now. If he really was a “cancer” he’d have been gone long ago.

And anyway, didn’t Crash Davis give the other team signs?

By: pisano

pisano — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 18:53:13 +0000

I think Marty Barrett pretty much gave his opinion on A.J being a jerk or cancer, wadda ya think?

By: xsherr

xsherr — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 18:48:07 +0000

Call him what you will, but he can flat out play ball.