Last thing I take out of that Rosenthal column* this morning:
Before anyone goes nuts, remember: there’s a difference between an actual rumor and a reporter playing the “this guy would be a good fit here” game. So much of that latter stuff gets repeated as actual news when, really, it’s nothing more than people chatting to kill the time. That said:
- Both would make some amount of sense in that Frenchy can at least pretend to be the right-handed portion of a platoon and Burrell, for all of the holes in that swing, would actually represent an improvement for the Braves’ atrocious outfield;
- Rosenthal was the first guy to be talking about the Cliff Lee/Roy Halladay trade last year. At the time everyone thought that was pure speculation too; and
- While I’d hope that both the Braves and Phillies would aim higher to address their needs, I can’t imagine a situation that would give me more satisfaction than seeing Philly fans go nuts when Francoeur does Jeff Francoeur things. And if Burrell had one big hit to beat Philly in 2011, he’ be worth his salary and strikeouts in schadenfruede value alone.
So, yes, this is just “this guy would fit here stuff” right now. But a boy can dream, can’t he?
*At this point allow me to note that while I do my fair share of criticism of, well, everyone, I am a big fan of Ken Rosenthal. We disagree a lot when it comes to commentary -- steroids stuff, competitive balance stuff, etc. -- but as a reporter I really dig his work. He’s not always right. No one in the news and rumors game is. But he’s right just as often if not a bit more than most. More importantly, he has what I feel to be the right temperament for the job. You never hear him piling on players or organizations the way so many (myself included, I must admit) so often do. Personally speaking, he’s unfailingly polite and gracious. I ripped a column of his to shreds once and he sent me an email defending his argument that was way nicer than I deserved. Made me feel like a schmuck. Which is good, because I was being a schmuck. I still behave like a schmuck sometimes, but I try to do it a bit less because as a result of Rosenthal’s graciousness.
I’m not going to canonize the guy or anything -- we’re all human, and he’ll likely write something in the next couple of months that will have me tearing what’s left of my hair out -- but there are only a handful of reporters who do what he does. Some are good. Some are bad. Some are hostile or arrogant or simply refuse to engage readers, critics and other writers at all. Rosenthal is better than that, and he deserves an occasional shoutout for it.
