The Reds have hired Joe Morgan as a special adviser to baseball operations. Given his complete lack of understanding of baseball evaluation, as displayed every single Sunday night on ESPN, it would seem the smartest thing owner Bob Castellini and general manager Walt Jocketty could do would be to listen to what Morgan has to say and then do the complete opposite. Amazing that someone who displays such little knowledge of baseball evaluation could have been the best baseball player of the entire 1970s.
Meanwhile, Morgan will continue his role as booth nitwit on ESPN's Sunday night baseball broadcasts. Um, conflict of interest? Did ESPN not learn with the Craig James-Texas Tech fiasco? How is Morgan supposed to objectively critique and cover the Reds if he's drawing a paycheck from them? Given their decade of mediocrity, I know that the Reds aren't likely to ever be on a Sunday night telecast but that doesn't mean they won't be a discussion point. For example, this week the Sunday night guys may feel it appropriate to discuss the Edinson Volquez suspension. How can Morgan comment on it? Chances are, Castellini would prefer further comment not be made by anyone in his organization. Is Morgan supposed to just say "no comment" when Jon Miller and Orel Hershiser bring it up?
Just as Craig James shouldn't be covering college football for ESPN, Morgan should not be covering baseball for ESPN due to the conflict of interest.
(Morgan shouldn't have been covering baseball anyway, given his horrible performance in the booth, but that's another matter entirely.)
No comments:
Post a Comment