Jesus Montero was at the center of a bizarre situation on Thursday night, as MILB.com’s Tyler Maun reports. While on a rehab assignment at Seattle’s short-season class A affiliate, Montero reportedly had to be restrained from going after a Mariners crosschecker with a bat after the scout reportedly sent an ice cream sandwich to the dugout. Butch Baccala, the crosschecker in question, tells Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times that the incident is “not what is being portrayed,” though he didn’t want to comment further until speaking with Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik.
- There is discord between Astros GM Jeff Luhnow and manager Bo Porter, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports, and things may have gotten bad enough that “it’s difficult to imagine the Astros starting the 2015 season with the same management team.” Porter feels he doesn’t have enough input in the team’s plans and Luhnow too often second-guesses his in-game decisions, plus there were some hard feelings over Mark Appel’s bullpen session at Minute Maid Park last month.
- Yadier Molina’s return shouldn’t end A.J. Pierzynski’s stint with the Cardinals, FOX Sports Midwest’s Stan McNeal writes. Molina will need to be eased into his usual workload behind the plate, and with rosters expanding, the Cards will have room for three catchers (Tony Cruz being the third). Pierzynski has also been a fit in the Cardinals’ clubhouse following the drama that marked his exit from Boston.
- The Braves were the other finalist for right-hander Brandon Poulson, Baseball America’s Bob Padecky reports. Poulson ended up signing a $250K bonus with the Twins, capping off a fairly incredible route to pro baseball for the 6’7″ fireballer.
- Commissioner-elect Rob Manfred figures to differ from Bud Selig in several areas, and ESPN’s Jayson Stark outlines some of the areas that Manfred will focus on when he officially takes over the job.
This reported conflict between Porter and Luhnow reminds me a lot of Billy Beane and Art Howe in “Moneyball”.
The manager usually doesn’t win those battles.
None of that was true in the movie. It was just added for drama. Howe and Beane were fine during Howe’s years in Oakland.
Luhnow appears to be a real piece of work. Just no understanding of working with humans — as opposed to numbers — at all.
As an Astros fan I’m more than happy with the job Luhnow has done. Other that the first pick thingy, which was just a much the agent’s fault, he’s had a great year, and all but 2 of the top 15 picks signed. We won’t lose 100 games, the prospects are coming up and more on the way.
If Porter thinks he should have say on personnel moves, that’s a problem. The plan is working, just not fast enough for some people.
If someone changes the order of things and scares people that their way of life may change or may lose jobs, it’s always met with resistance.
I don’t how anybody can defend Luhnow for what happened with the team’s pampering of Appel or their actions with this year’s draft debacle. The problem for Porter is that Luhnow is Crane’s yes man and if one has to go, it’ll be Porter.
And I think Astros fans have totally lost perspective.
Strange story about Montero. While the ice cream sandwich joke was in poor taste, attacking someone w a potentially deadly weapon is a pretty serious violent crime
He didn’t attack the guy.
If someone grabbed a gun and walked up to me in a menacing manner but was stopped before he shot me I wouldn’t say “well he didn’t shoot me”. Clearly he had some intention of violence or why else bring a weapon you could easily kill someone with?
Holding the bat in a threatening manner was unnecessary if true. However, a punch to the face for someone that does something like this would have been just. Sounds like another person trying to have fun at someone’s expense without any fear of retribution. Story of our society. Some jokes cross the line. This assuming that this was done in reference to his weight issues.
Because he’s a baseball player and having a bat with him is kind of expected.
Even when Montero was the 1st base coach during the game?
No defense for what Montero did (or tried to do), but if the story is anything close to accurate then the crosschecker needs to be fired. It was wholly unprofessional, and even worse, targeted his own team’s player.
I’m not getting the joke. Is there a backstory with Montero and ice cream sandwiches?
He’s been really bad, and came into camp overweight this year.
I don’t think I would be scared if Montero tried to attack me with a bat. The guy should have just pretended to be a baseball.
I think Ed Wade tried pretending he was a stress ball when Chacon tried to choke him out…didn’t work so well.
The on-field results are better for the Astros, but everything else looks like it’s just crumbling. I definitely think Bo is the man for this team right now. If Bo Porter loses his job over this, it’s not going to look very good for Luhnow at all. He’s had an incredibly bad year already.
I don’t think Luhnow and Crane care how they are perceived by MLB, the players or the fans at this point.