Comments on: Yes, the Diamondbacks really do want “gritty” players

By: Jason @ IIATMS

Jason @ IIATMS — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 15:25:26 +0000

Guessing by the thumbs down is that you actually think I support the “grittiness” comments. Which I don’t, but whatever.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 15:24:00 +0000

If it were a real paradigm change, it would be a fa-fo, wouldn’t it?

By: schmedley69

schmedley69 — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 12:37:00 +0000

The Braves outfield is now brimming with potential. Potentially the laziest outfield in baseball.

By: louhudson23

louhudson23 — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 10:38:04 +0000

Prado will be missed.Uptons are check collectors cashing in “potential” coupons…..

By: Baseball Beer Burritos In That Order

Baseball Beer Burritos In That Order — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 09:32:52 +0000

Typically when people post links here they stick to Simpsons clips from Youtube, 1980s movie clips, and that ridiculous "workout" video from Yoenis Cespedes. The only person who posts HBT links to his own work on HBT is Craig, and he's Batman.

By: whmiv21

whmiv21 — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 03:57:27 +0000

He traded Chris Young, too. Towers is a racist!

By: ningenito78

ningenito78 — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 03:04:02 +0000

All this makes me think: a.) Craig is a die hard Braves fan and b.) that’s it.

By: cur68

cur68 — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 01:54:12 +0000

Paradigm change be a mo-fo.

By: chacochicken

chacochicken — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 01:46:00 +0000

I’d like to offer KT two boxes of premium 30 grit sandpaper and a 500 lb. grouper for Paul Goldschmidt.

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 01:31:48 +0000

The irony is almost too biting.

By: itsacurse

itsacurse — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 01:10:41 +0000

“Wow! Kirk Gibson!” – Kevin Towers every time he meets with his team’s manager

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 00:59:57 +0000

Man, that put me too much in my head.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 00:48:29 +0000

I see what you did there…

By: gloccamorra

gloccamorra — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 00:41:21 +0000

You’ll have to add Ken Kendrick to the equation. It was Kendrick who blew up on Upton and Drew, and they’re both gone now. Gibson may have had a problem seeing eye to eye with Upton, but Kendrick owns the team, and Towers works for him. KT is too good a baseball man to be making such backward trades on his own, he must be under pressure from a Steinbrenner wannabe.

By: yahmule

yahmule — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 00:39:53 +0000

I don’t know if this is any reflection on Justin’s grittiness, but Gibson suggested they play Uptown Girl when he’s walking to the plate.

By: schlom

schlom — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 00:25:20 +0000

I think it’s pretty hilarious that everyone thinks that Kevin Towers is an idiot and that he has no idea what he is doing. I guess he just lucked his way into all those awesome trades with the Padres and the Diamondbacks improvement since he took over as GM is just a fluke.

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 00:16:42 +0000

Oh cool, twitter links auto-embed. I didn’t know that!

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 00:14:53 +0000

Since I brought up Kafka, we could make it about drones instead:
Someone must have slandered Josef K., for one morning, without having done anything truly wrong, he was killed by a Predator drone.

5. Someone must have slandered Josef K., for one morning, without having done anything truly wrong, he was killed by a Predator drone.—
Teju Cole (@tejucole) January 14, 2013

By: sheriffpeyton18

sheriffpeyton18 — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 23:42:23 +0000

He got lazy last year!! As a Dbacks fan, he was a cancer on the team.

By: caeser12

caeser12 — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 23:18:13 +0000

“Gritty”

Translation: Servile.

By: schlom

schlom — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 23:17:25 +0000

MLBTradeRumors has Kevin Towers’ trade history with the Padres here: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/03/kevin-towers–.html

You trade with Towers at your own peril. There’s a few bad ones – David Freese for Jim Edmonds (although Freese was blocked by younger, better Chase Headley) – but many total heists.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 23:14:33 +0000

I was thinking: how am I not supposed to make a snarky comment about grit v. athleticism & code words?

By: Brian Murphy

Brian Murphy — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 23:06:14 +0000

After reading those comments from Towers, which columnist is going to do some mental gymnastics to connect the dots and hint that this done partially due to racism? Some kook has got to be insane enough to say it.

By: dondada10

dondada10 — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 22:53:28 +0000

“or (b) there is really some specific, deeper problem between Upton and the Dbacks and, in an effort to make it sound like merely a bad fit, Towers is allowing himself to traffic in the silly “gritty” stuff.”

This. I can see the problem being something between Gibby and Upton. Something along the lines of Upton not wanting to kiss Gibson’s ass.

By: petey1999

petey1999 — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 22:52:43 +0000

Throwing trash cans = gritty? How about beating Gatorade coolers with a bat? How about getting into fights with your teammates in the dugout? I suppose you would consider Carlos Zambrano “gritty”.

By: mrfloydpink

mrfloydpink — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 22:52:08 +0000

Perhaps they can call the Mariners and work a trade–grit for veteran leadership? Maybe they will have to involve a third team that has an excess of heart and/or determination.

By: cur68

cur68 — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 22:44:04 +0000

Upton not only gritty, he plays the game with great intelligence. If only he had a bit of Mike Trout’s athleticism to go along with it. Oy.

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 22:41:43 +0000

This whole thing is starting to feel like Mel Brooks and Kafka got together to try to run a ball team for a couple years or something.

By: Jason @ IIATMS

Jason @ IIATMS — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 22:40:15 +0000

In other words, see my first comment here: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/01/24/why-did-the-dbacks-trade-justin-upton-anyway/