I like Neukom… No offense to Magowan, but I don’t remember him ever speaking so fluidly and openly about baseball. Duke seems like he really loves the game, he’s a really smart dude, and I generally like the direction the team has taken since he’s taken over. All in all, I’m thinking about forgiving him for working for Microsoft.

I liked the interview, but Cohn needs to look into this new thing called the “paragraph break”

Ah, grammar complaints. The Internet is a fun place.

I like Bill Neukom.

Interesting comment in there about some vets not providing the kind of leadership they’d expected… comment on Zito? Rowand? both? someone else I’m not thinking of?

Nice to see Scutaro taking some time off to communicate with the fans, even if they aren’t of his team.

I like that he expressed calm in a time when there seems to be a sense of panic about not having as much offense as we’d all like. It was reassuring to hear that the team is focused on the medium and long term investment in younger cheaper talent that will take this team into the next decade in a great position (or be used to acquire the talent that will). It was nice that he didn’t come off with a “win now” mentality as he acknowledge that the team simply doesn’t have the talent to do that. At the same time, he expressed the simple and reasonable goal of improving on last year’s record. I mean, last year the team won 72 games and if it won 78-82 this year, that would be, by all means, a very good improvement and trending in the right direction.

I don’t remember a team executive (at least not for SF) being this blunt about a specific player:

You don’t have to accept this but I think Manny Ramirez is an American League player. You’ve got to play defense. He can’t catch a cold in the field.

Sure, there’s always the generalities that Sabean throws around, but I don’t remember anyone just out-and-out dissing any players.

I’m all in favor of energetic smart baseball when you move the runner over and score the run. Tom Seaver said to me this winter, “I’d rather give up a home run than a double. Because that guy who just took me to the wall is right behind me damn it and I’ve got to deal with him.” I love doubles and I love run-scoring singles and I love moving the runner over. I don’t care if we win 3-2. I don’t care if we win 8-2.

ack

Tom Seaver said to me this winter, “I’d rather give up a home run than a double. Because that guy who just took me to the wall is right behind me damn it and I’ve got to deal with him.”

Tom Seaver: Idiot.
Neukom: Your choice: Idiot or conniving weasel making a lack of HR power sound like a good thing.