Former Athletics catcher Bruce Maxwell is a player known more for his ideological stances than for his performance on the diamond, but that hasn’t stopped the backstop from turning a few heads while playing in Mexico this season. The San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser can be counted as one who has taken the time to notice Maxwell’s torrid production south of the border, as the veteran scribe profiled the catcher’s attempts to resurrect a career impacted, in part, by his decision to kneel during the national anthem in 2017 (link). The now-28-year-old Maxwell hit .325 with 25 homers in 2019 while playing for the Acereros de Monclova, a team that also featured fellow former Athletic Chris Carter. But, as Slusser points out, it’s far from clear if Maxwell’s foreign success will be enough to entice teams to overlook the “political baggage” (Slusser’s words) associated with him.
“People say you have to be stand-up citizens, but guys who are taking steroids come back and they still have jobs,” Maxwell said to Slusser in regard to his current lack of stateside of employment. “Guys who beat their wives are back like nothing happened.” While Maxwell had a few other expletive-laced thoughts on the subject of perceived double standards within the business of sport, he did also admit to some mistakes over a brief MLB career that saw him hit .240/.314/.347 (83 wRC+) over 127 games. “I accept I had an attitude,” Maxwell said, “and I could have changed it and I didn’t; I accept responsibility for that.” Maxwell, in addition to his anthem protest, also gained notoriety for a 2017 arrest for aggravated assault.
More notes from around the game, as the Nats and Cards do battle in the NLCS…
- While any news involving Maxwell is likely to inspire some commenting forum debate, our second item comes with far less controversy. In a piece for The Cincinnati Enquirer, Bobby Nightengale profiles Reds hurler Michael Lorenzen’s offseason quest to add velo to his already-fearsome fastball (link). Notably, Lorenzen is planning to seek the tutelage of recently new teammate Trevor Bauer. “We’re talking about making my delivery more efficient where I’m actually able to throw harder with less effort,” Lorenzen said of his discussions with Bauer to this point. “That’s a real thing if you understand human anatomy and human movement. It’s a real thing. With my strength numbers and my power numbers and my movement quality, I should be throwing harder.” As Nightengale points out, Lorenzen already averaged 97.2 mph on his heater this past season en route to notching a 2.92 ERA across 83.1 innings out of the Cincy pen. If Bauer is able to replicate the success he had working with former Indians teammate Mike Clevinger–who added several ticks to his fastball under Bauer’s instruction–the Reds may find themselves with a truly terrifying late-inning option in the Orange County-bred Lorenzen.
- Evan Drellich of The Athletic published a thoughtful and well-researched piece that touched on MLB’s so-called attendance problem, which the writer positions as a possible consequence of broader societal moves toward online–and not in-person–leisure activities (link). MLB attendance was 68,494,752 in 2019, down 1.7 percent from the 2018 season, but Drellich points to the year-over-year growth of MLB At Bat and MLB.tv as signs that the league is growing in ways that may not be evident when looking at attendance data alone. Commissioner Rob Manfred is inclined to agree with this line of thinking: “We try to think about engagement with the game,” Manfred told Drellich. “We sell different things. We sell a live product…We sell a broadcast product…We try to look broader than just attendance.” Drellich’s piece also features extensive data regarding the league’s deployment of social science polling data in their concerted effort to engage Gen Z fans–very heady stuff, for those so inclined.
Freaking Mike Clevinger. I can’t stand his pitching style but he’s effective. He’s so fidgety up there. It’s like his entire throwing move is just an elliptical cycle of ticks. Very unnerving for me. I’m overstating this, but yeah, he’s a very animated pitcher, haha. But I guess it’s working wonders for him! He certainly has shown shut down stuff every time I’ve watched him play.
Maxwell is done in the majors
But he go to the max very well.
As he should be, gun pulling race baiter. Kneels to “protest” police brutality and then goes on to perpetuate the stereotype that people of color are violent and carry guns. This guy is hypocrisy personified.
As much as I don’t like Maxwell, he’s not wrong. If guys like Osuna, Reyes, and Kang can play in the league, he should at least be able to land a minor league contract if he is worth it
But he’s not. He is bad at baseball
He had sturggled in the majors but has had some success in the minors and apparently also in Mexico. “Baggage” aside he has shown enough to get a minor league deal somewhere
There is no “baggage aside.” People don’t forget about the baggage. Either you’re good enough that teams are willing to look the other way or you aren’t. He clearly isn’t.
I was saying that his talent is good enough for a minor league deal. I wasn’t saying he deserves one
The quality of pitching talent in the Mexican speaks volumes when K machine Chris Carter is hitting .293/.449/.709 49/119 with 115 walks…..the “worst” team in the league had a .287 BA. 10 teams in the league had a BA of at least .300. Teams might’ve given him a chance if it wasn’t for the whole getting drunk and pointing a loaded gun at a young woman thing.
Carter couldn’t cut it in AAA last year. I saw him play in Rochester and he looked completely lost striking out weakly several times. So, given his stats, I’d completely discount Maxwell’s as well.
Absolutely disgusting to frame Maxwell as the victim. The guy couldn’t play and committed a crime. That has everything to do with him being out of MLB
He’s played well in the Mexican league though. He made a mistake, lots of people have done worse and they are looked at differently. He didn’t help himself with his performance but he performed well in the Mexican league and definitely would be interesting on a minor league deal
The problem is his decision in 2017. For whatever reason, fans are ok with some players coming back and being accepted… Andy Pettite for example. But fans aren’t going to be impressed or happy if Maxwell was back.
He made his bed, he has to lie in it.
I’ll argue the kneeling has less to do with it than pointing a gun in someone’s face. He’s not talented enough to overcome that.
I’d be completely fine if he was back.
“For whatever reason, fans are ok with some players coming back and being accepted…”
That reason is talent. He doesn’t have enough of it to ignore his issues.
wow Maxwell takes zero responsibility for what he did. it’s all blame blame blame. Like a 2 year old he points out what everyone else has done.
He does take responsibility for his attitude…..
And then proceeds to play the victim…
Maxwell is not out of baseball because of his kneeling. There is no mention about his legal problems which led to his release from Oakland.
Both the article linked to and the mlbtr post mention the arrest
I understand that, but MLBTR portion did not mention any of that and that was a pretty important piece of information.
Hmm, I read it in the article. His kneeling I’m sure is more than 75% of why he’s not in MLB.
Probably more to do with being arrested for threatening a pizza guy with a loaded firearm
Maxwell committing a crime has nothing to do with it. If he was a great player he’d still have a job.
The thought of Lorenzen being able to get more velo than 97 and doing it while using less effort is kind of scary. He’s already a beast I’m curious to see where this goes.
He can spend the odd days at Driveline and the even days at the Ballyard learning launch angle. He’s gonna be a monster.
And despite any added velocity, his UCL gets no stronger….
No ones figured out the UCL, have they? They could limit pitch counts to 50 and people will still be gettting tommy john. Have your read the book, The MVP Machine? I’m half way thru it. It’s a must read for any serious baseball fan. Especially all of us that like to be on this site.
It was an inspired move getting Trevor Bauer, even though it cost Trammel, but worth it. Hilarious how Cleveland was in a hurry to get rid of him.
Completely over look the fact he pointed a gun a female delivery driver and get right to the politics. He is a criminal that played poorly in the minors, that is why he isn’t in the majors. Not defending Reyes, Osuna, Chapman but add all the facts in the article.
Maxwell’s problem is not his political baggage and everyone knows it. His problem is that he threatened a pizza delivery girl at gunpoint. He’s right that wife beaters and steroid users have jobs while he doesn’t, but if he was actually any good at his job people would overlook his baggage like they overlook it for Braun, Cruz, Osuna, Reyes etc. There’s no double standard here, there’s just no incentive for teams to employ a bad player, especially one with political baggage as well.
Exactly. Seems like he still has the attitude too, since he’s blaming everyone other than himself.
bingo
what was the problem about ?
there were anchovies on the pizza ?
I’m sorry Bruce maxwell should not be allowed in the league. We see enough of this kneeling for the anthem crap in football. We don’t need it in the MLB.
We should just ban free speech all together.
I don’t care if he kneels, lies on the ground kicking the air like a little brat, poops his pants or scratches his nads while they are playing the anthem. He can have his silly little “look at me!” moment all he wants. The total ridiculous and now meaningless gesture only points out that he only wants attention. Let him throw his tantrum. You know, in the name of free speech b
Of course not. This is not the NBA.
Your anthem means nothing, I don’t even take my hat off or stand for the American anthem at ball games
Know exactly what kind of person you are.
That’s your right. The fact that people died and were wounded to give the citizens of the US probably means nothing to you as well. We all still served because it matters to decent freedom loving people.
Haha. Maxwell does not appear ready to conform.
To me it is clear that when Maxwell pulled a gun on the delivery driver, he was not in a good mental state. His whole career shouldn’t go down the drain for that. And neither should it go down the drain for doing something he felt was honorable (fans can disagree with that but I think his kneeling showed tremendous guts). Plenty of players with much worse statistical track records get multiple chances. He deserves another chance.
I don’t understand why anyone supports the kneeling. players are not out there representing themselves, they are emoloyees representing a larger entity. Public statements can be made on their own time when they aren’t wearing a uniform.
when you put on a uniform you become a member of a team and your lone voice has no place…if you are a good teammate anyway.
do you go to work and make political statements when a meeting starts?
i personally im not a fan at all of the kneeling, and find it a bit offensive, but i understand the reasoning for it. it does send a strong message. however, there are other ways to do such a thing. these players should put their actions where their mouths are and actually volunteer their time to help fight these issues. (which im sure some do, though the loudest voices arent always among them)
I think the players see that volunteering their time isn’t changing things. It doesn’t raise awareness. Acts like Maxwell’s does raise awareness, and as this article proves, it also triggers people into extremely negative responses.
Name one.
Can we all at least agree that’s it’s very, very RUDE to pull
a gun on someone delivering to you a delicious pizza ?
Manfred just doesn’t get it. Every game is hours long and I am a life long fan. Every batter steps,out adjust his batting gloves and it just goes on and on. Then you get all the pitching changes. I is WD to go to games that 2 hours 30 minters were about a good. Now it is 4 hours plus. Just get on it with it already. My son and his friends don’t miss a World Cup game and 4/5 cant tell you 2 teams in the playoffs and don’t care. They are all in their early 20’s.
Average game time is 3 hours. Strike one. The world cup is about a country competing, not just a team. Dumb comparison. Strike two. And big swing and a miss with that middle part, no idea what you are trying to say. Sit down
Well, his name does have ‘crazy’ in it so I’m not surprised.
so your kids prefer the world cup to baseball. so do a lot of people, and it has nothing to do with baseball.
People complaining about the length of games are soccer moms…if you don’t like it don’t go. Stop trying to “fix” the game I love.
Heartily agree. This greatest of all sports has within it,
self correcting mechanisms.
Example is: all the whining about the ‘over shifting of infields’.
Hitters are starting to go the other way and bunt more equals interesting baseball.
So no need to add a rule restricting shifting.
For me personally I haven’t been to a game due to cost and the improved coverage of the sport. I could drive a few hours to a reds game get at least solid tickets (nothing that requires binoculars or straight watching the jumbotron) and have it still run around 200 dollars for myself and another. Just easier to watch from home
As a Yankee fan who lives in upstate NY about 3 hours North of the city I totally agree. If the tickets were reasonably priced I’d go to at least a dozen games a year, rather than 1-2
Maybe they should rethink the overly high price of actually going to games
and lower the cost since other revenue sources have increased
Bruce kneels for the National Anthem, but stands for his mugshot for felony aggravated assault with a gun.
nbcsports.com/bayarea/athletics/grand-jury-issues-…
And then there’s that fake racism incident at that restaurant, right Bruce?
si.com/mlb/2017/10/26/waiter-accused-denying-bruce…
You’re right where you belong you p.o.s.
The whole meme of kneeling during the national anthem is impotent now. Let them kneel all they want. It means nothing and serves absolutely no purpose other than an attention grab. Just ignore the little bratty kids.
You don’t ignore bad behavior by children. You confront it and punish them. Bruce should be publically mocked as the ungrateful, morally bankrupt, cry bully p.o.s. he is.
You are correct, particularly concerning children. The reason you discipline children is because they potentially have value to society and they lack the ability to make mature decisions. These kneelers are adults. It’s too late to teach them if they cannot see reality past themselves and/or they are being manipulated by outside forces (kapernik) to do this idiotic thing and told how “courageous “ they are when in reality it simply resembles childish bratty behavior and their so-called point has been eradicated by their own selfishness. Since so many SJWs get all bent out of shape if anyone dare try to punish these misled and myopic patsies, then fine, throw your kneeling tantrum and rational, grateful people will honor the reason for the anthem and ignore them. If you would like to consider yourself as protesting against America then OK. Knock yourself out. It serves zero purpose in the context of doing it during the anthem. If your goal is to alienate a majority of people and further divide the country, then mission accomplished. Good for you.
your anthem is bad and you should feel bad for thinking it’s anything more than nationalistic propaganda
Thanks for sharing your stupid opinion, you can go back to being irrelevant now.
pot meet kettle
Again you are free to think what you like. We that love the US and what it stands for feel proud and blessed for our liberty we defend. Not all people enjoy freedom or individual free thought and pursuit of happiness. We know this. We know there are many countries in the world that despise us for freedom and goodness. We know that many people and countries simply surrender to group think and totalitarianism. We may have loud vocal groups with willing media here but Americans will never bow to dictatorship
And oh by the way, like ALL national anthems it IS nationalistic. This will be a hard concept for you but National Anthems are nationalistic. It even in the description. What crazy country are you from?
jaysonderuto is just a leftist indoctrinated childish troll. Leave him to his delusions.
By the way, “JaysonDelirious” ;
which country are you from
and what is your anthem like ?
K, K, HR, K. Repeat.
Ideological stances?
Maxwell was arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. His ideological stance is the last thing anyone needs to think about.
Does anyone even assume maxwells stance is ideological? He just wants attention.
I referred to the opening line of the article. And yes I agree, definite attention-seeker. He certainly received it with his wonderful (mis)treatment of women.
Jeez, saw Chris Carter tagged so I clicked to check out his 2019 Mexican league stats. 49 home runs and almost 120 RBI. Dude’s got such insane power, he actually hit .293 as well, that’s incredible for him.
lets face it, Maxwell’s actions were not the biggest issue that caused his release. him being the only one doing it made it not nearly the magnitude of a problem the NFL was dealing with, but things like poor effort and lacking production probably were the real factors. the legal issues were then the nail in the coffin. like Kaepernick, Maxwell’s on field actions were not the deciding factor in making him lose his job, even if they assuredly pushed the needle a bit.
my bad, when i said “on field actions” i meant the anthem in specific.
So MLB finds that while attendance is slowly going down, people follow it on social media?
I’ve been writing that here for years.
With all the working the counts, foul balls, and challenges, who can sit still in a seat and watch? Sitting for 3 plus hours to see maybe 10-15 minutes of action? (Note that the incredibly expensive seats in the bowl of Yankee Stadium are almost always less them half full. The well-heeled season ticket holders buy them to see the better visiting teams, and primarily for the playoffs.)
Of course most people use social media to follow the games. They just want to see the highlights. Who has time to watch their home team for 3 hours a game – 162 games in 180 days?
I’m retired, have MLB.TV, and will watch 5-6 hours of games at times. But I’m switching from one game to another, and during that time watch parts of 6-10 games. And I don’t do that every day.
It’s inconceivable to me that a person working or going to school in addition to having relationships and enjoying their life, has 500 or so hours to sit around and devote to watching guys hit foul balls and managers bring in relief pitchers 4-8 times a game. Since most games consist of K, W, HR, and some interesting defensive plays – one can see that best on highlights. Sure, one misses what happened during the game, but most American’s grew up playing baseball on strat-o-matic or a computer rather then on a field. All they care about is sorting statistical data and seeing how the guys on their fantasy league team did statistically.
I keep saying it – at some point MLB will have to paper the house and give out free tickets like they used to do on local Saturday afternoon wrestling. That will project a sense of excitement for those watching on their media devices.
Valid points.
You’re definitely on to something:, “Vandals”. games everyday and no time clock make baseball so unique among sports. I enjoy MLB Network and watch highlights mostly as well. Still, a late afternoon game on in the background at home is pleasant to have. Miss Strat-o-Matic from my younger days, Great socializing game with friends.
Didn’t realize he was the kneeler, don’t care. He sure did suck though.
One thing is interesting. Did Drellich actually count what percentage of mlb.tv subs are coming from international fans (like me) who have no blackouts and can watch any game, any time and from anywhere? Maybe the rise in not that substantial comparing to losses in attendance. Maybe that rise is not even related to losses in attendance.
I hear what you’re saying Darth. It’s great to see how much
people from the Caribbian countries love the game.
We could learn something from that.