Protecting the Shields -- The Nick Cafardo Thread

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David Laurila

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From Baseball Prospectus:

"In any other division, the Orioles would probably be a contender. Although this probably isn't the year they put it all together, they are tantalizingly close to a return to respectability. They are projected to score 781 runs—fifth in the AL, but fourth in the East."
 

Dummy Hoy

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It's not even a bad article, but it made me laugh when I saw that Cafardo had a full article on Damon in today's Globe. I'm sure we'll get one on Sheff when (if) he signs somewhere.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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I saw the headline "Clemens piling up big numbers, like his famous father" on Boston.com and knew who wrote it without even clicking the link.

Now this isn't because I'm clairvoyant it's because Nick Cafardo is so god damn, fucking predictable that it isn't even funny. The guy is now an official parody of himself.

BTW in Sunday's notes column get ready for stuff on the Tigers, the Astros and whatever team tomorrow's story of zero importance plays for. Let's guess which team that will be?

Judging by this map it will be someone on the Braves, probably Derek Lowe.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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It's like Nick doesn't know his reading audience at all.

Roger Clemens hasn't been in a Boston uniform in 14 years. In that time, he's defected to the Yankees, called George Steinbrenner the best owner in baseball, left three teams upset in his wake, has become a national figure of disgrace for both his PED use and his assaults on the English language, blamed both McNamee and his wife for the PED stuff, and generally has shown himself to be every bit the horse's ass many of us suspected him to be all along.

Why should anyone in the Boston area give a ripe shit about Koby Clemens' baseball career? Seriously. Who gives a damn? The kid doesn't play for our organization, and his father is loathed by the Boston fanbase. Koby Clemens isn't an interesting story to us because he affects us not a whit.

Christ almighty, first the breathless Damon coverage, and now this. And JMOH is right, tomorrow it will be Derek Lowe's turn.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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QUOTE
It's like Nick doesn't know his reading audience at all.


And that is the root of the problem. Cafardo doesn't seem to take his audience into the equation when he comes up with story lines. He sees guys (or in this case relatives of guys) that were friendly to him, bangs out 1500 words and calls it a day.

You know what would be a story that many Sox fans would give a shit about at Astros camp? The managerial debut of Tito's right-hand man Brad Mills. Mills has been widely hailed as one of the brightest minds in the Red Sox organization (he called for the successful pickoff of Matt Holiday in Game 1 of the 07 WS) and this would be a great opportunity for Globe readers to learn more.

Instead we get a bullshit story about a bullshit prospect for a team that no one in Boston gives two flying fucks about.
 

Naehring11

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According to Cafardo on Toucher and Rich this morning, 37 is the age when baseball players begin to fall apart. Not late 30's or around 37. 37 exactly. He's seen it many times throughout his career.

Also, the Red Sox signed Cameron because "he has a football player's body."




Edit... yes, this was referring to Cameron
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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QUOTE (Naehring11 @ Mar 5 2010, 08:49 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=2837811
According to Cafardo on Toucher and Rich this morning, 37 is the age when baseball players begin to fall apart. Not late 30's or around 37. 37 exactly. He's seen it many times throughout his career.

Also, the Red Sox signed him because "he has a football player's body."

Talking about Cameron, right?
 

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QUOTE (mikeford @ Mar 5 2010, 09:28 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=2837845
Ya, he was talking about Mike Cameron. He also said Dice-K is starting the season on the DL, which was news to me.

I definitely did a double take when I heard the DL news. His rationale was that he was already a week behind, so they wouldn't want to rush him to get ready for the season. No mention of the fact that a 5th starter isn't usually needed until around the middle of April anyways...

And the "age 37" thing mentioned earlier was ridiculous. It was presented as fact, in that Cameron was a fine player at 36, but at 37 he would fall off a cliff because that's what happens at that age.

I was left shaking my head.
 

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QUOTE (Smiling Joe Hesketh @ Mar 4 2010, 01:43 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=2836234
It's like Nick doesn't know his reading audience at all.


I actually think the opposite is true. I wish it weren't, but the more I look at the audience/media dynamic, the more I see "lack of depth casual fan" as the target audience. In order to capture the largest market share possible, the sports editors at the Globe, and the producers at WEEI, are trying to appeal to people who aren't as serious about the sport as most people here.

The casual fan -- this extends to those who tune into the Olympics primarily to watch ice dancing -- knows who Johnny Damon and Roger Clemens are. They see the name, it registers, and they are more prone to read. The same people see the name Brad Mills, or even Billy Hall or Marco Scutaro, and they might as well be reading your name or mine -- it means nothing to them and they are more prone to ignore.

Is this something I want to see? No, but I understand it. To a very large degree, what is printed in a newspaper, and heard on the radio, is part of a business plan.
 
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QUOTE (mikeford @ Mar 5 2010, 09:28 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=2837845
Ya, he was talking about Mike Cameron. He also said Dice-K is starting the season on the DL, which was news to me.

FWIW, Sean McAdam also said this last night on CSN Sports Tonight.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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QUOTE (David Laurila @ Mar 5 2010, 10:53 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=2837973
I actually think the opposite is true. I wish it weren't, but the more I look at the audience/media dynamic, the more I see "lack of depth casual fan" as the target audience. In order to capture the largest market share possible, the sports editors at the Globe, and the producers at WEEI, are trying to appeal to people who aren't as serious about the sport as most people here.

The casual fan -- this extends to those who tune into the Olympics primarily to watch ice dancing -- knows who Johnny Damon and Roger Clemens are. They see the name, it registers, and they are more prone to read. The same people see the name Brad Mills, or even Billy Hall or Marco Scutaro, and they might as well be reading your name or mine -- it means nothing to them and they are more prone to ignore.

Is this something I want to see? No, but I understand it. To a very large degree, what is printed in a newspaper, and heard on the radio, is part of a business plan.

The casual fan, quite bluntly, doesn't give a flying fuck about Koby Clemens except to the extent of hearing if his career flames out horribly due to deep antipathy towards his father. Cafardo painted him as a figure of interest and sympathy to us and on that front I think he's horribly misguided.

And let's not pretend that article stemmed from anything else than Nick's uncomfortable, years-long man-crush on Roger, one that he used to beat the drum for his return to Boston throughout 2007. Similarly with Damon; Nick's been up his ass since the day he left. It's all about old, comfortable contacts for Cafardo. I can't wait until he gets JP on the record telling us how swell his new ESPN is going. Christ.
 

David Laurila

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QUOTE (Smiling Joe Hesketh @ Mar 5 2010, 04:07 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=2837998
The casual fan, quite bluntly, doesn't give a flying fuck about Koby Clemens except to the extent of hearing if his career flames out horribly due to deep antipathy towards his father. Cafardo painted him as a figure of interest to us and n that front I think he's horribly misguided.


Three words: Sarah Palin's daughters.
 

Dummy Hoy

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Has anyone ever figured out who Nick's go-to sources are? I know there are only a few

-Sheff
-Damon
-Ricchardi (AKA anonymous AL GM/Anonymous scout- he was at one point)
-Jim Bowden (AKA anonymous NL GM)

Who else?
 

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QUOTE (Dummy Hoy @ Mar 5 2010, 11:27 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=2838044
Has anyone ever figured out who Nick's go-to sources are? I know there are only a few

-Sheff
-Damon
-Ricchardi (AKA anonymous AL GM/Anonymous scout- he was at one point)
-Jim Bowden (AKA anonymous NL GM)

Who else?

I think he gets a lot of info from Clemens' agents (the Hendricks bros?) as well.

He's more of a "gets attached to certain subjects to the exclusion of all else" type of guy. He did the same thing when he covered football, relentlessly pimping Bills GM Tom Donohoe year after year because Donohoe would always call him right back.
 

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A for effort David, but your premise, while not without merit in the abstract, has nothing to do with why that story got written.
 

joyofsox

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It's not like Cafardo can dump whatever he wants into the paper. (Right?) A Globe editor must have given the thumbs up to a piece on TCM Jr. I would say that is where the blame for this shit seeing the light of day resides.
 

Buffalo Head

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No, the blame is with the writer. When I covered the team for Hartford, I set the agenda for what I was writing. The editors almost always signed off on what I was doing, because there was implicit trust that, by virtue of being the boot on the ground, I was pursuing the most relevant/interesting/newsworthy stories each day. On a rare occassion, I would get vetoed or asked to pursue something different, but over the course of 8-10 months, that didn't happen often. So, yes, in essence, a writer can dump anything he wants into the paper.

Personally, I would have pursued the Brad Mills story, but, by the same token, that would have been about my "agenda." I liked Brad a great deal during the years I covered them and had a good relationship with him, so writing about him would have appealed to me on a personal level, as well as being a good story. I'm sure it will be written by all outlets when the Astros play the Sox in a week or so.
 

Dummy Hoy

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On the whole, not a bad column from Cafardo today, he actually looked at a few different stories. He must lurk here because there was even a piece on Brad Mills.

I did laugh out loud at this line though:
QUOTE
9. B.J. Upton, CF, Rays - Privately, some Rays personnel hope he becomes like his little brother, Justin Upton, who signed a $51.25 million, six-year deal with Arizona last week.


I'm not sure that the Rays wanting BJ to be more like his brother is a view held in private by "some" Rays personnel.
 

mt8thsw9th

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Um, why wouldn't the Rays just want BJ Upton to be like... BJ Upton? 2009 was supposed to be his big breakout season after battling injury problems in 2008, while seeing his walk rate go through the roof, and he fell flat.
 
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QUOTE (John Marzano Olympic Hero @ Mar 4 2010, 06:08 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=2836198
I saw the headline "Clemens piling up big numbers, like his famous father" on Boston.com and knew who wrote it without even clicking the link.

Now this isn't because I'm clairvoyant it's because Nick Cafardo is so god damn, fucking predictable that it isn't even funny. The guy is now an official parody of himself.

BTW in Sunday's notes column get ready for stuff on the Tigers, the Astros and whatever team tomorrow's story of zero importance plays for. Let's guess which team that will be?

Judging by this map it will be someone on the Braves, probably Derek Lowe.


Awesome. Guess who Cafardo talked to today for a blog item about Nomah and his new gig?
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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QUOTE (pedros hairstylist @ Mar 10 2010, 06:00 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=2845026
Awesome. Guess who Cafardo talked to today for a blog item about Nomah and his new gig?

Like the swallows returning to Capistrano...

And this, on the heels of what I thought was a decent effort on a worthy topic in Strasburg (although chiding Nats fans for not selling out the spring training game was a bit much, I thought).
 

Laser Show

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In today's column, Cafardo talks about how the Twins have yet to sign Mauer, and how this could favor the Red Sox according to sources.

QUOTE
“In the end, I think the Twins sign him,’’ said a National League assistant general manager.“If they don’t, my bet is Boston. First of all, there’ll be a limited market. Two or three teams? One of them will be the Yankees, but if you know Mauer, he’d pick Boston over New York.’’


QUOTE
“If he doesn’t sign and he becomes a free agent, it favors Boston,’’ seconded an American League GM.


It's interesting to hear this coming from front office people. This anonymous source stuff still bugs me though.
 

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QUOTE (Laser Show @ Mar 14 2010, 12:19 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=2849534
In today's column, Cafardo talks about how the Twins have yet to sign Mauer, and how this could favor the Red Sox according to sources.





It's interesting to hear this coming from front office people. This anonymous source stuff still bugs me though.

I'm curious what exactly this unspoken thing is that makes these front office people think Mauer would sign with Boston over New York. "If you know him..." is pretty nebulous. I would expect that if he's choosing Boston over New York, he's leaving money on the table to do so, because we know the Yankees aren't getting outbid if they want him. And if he's leaving money on the table to sign anywhere, why wouldn't it be to stay where he is, playing for the team he grew up watching.
 

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QUOTE
Apropos of nothing
1. Wonder what Carl Yastrzemski thinks of “Yaz,’’ the birth-control product;


Hmmm. Ask him instead of just adding this to your notes column?
 

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Yeah, I thought the Yaz thing was kind of funny, and i was coming here to give Nick his due - pretty good column this week and he definitely ventured at least a little out of his comfort zone. Sure, it's still Braves and Twins heavy because that's where the Sox are, but I thought the Mauer item was intriguing (top-secret sources notwithstanding), the updates on nine were interesting and not about the standard cast of characters (except Kerry Wood, who's a frequent name in the column for some reason), and I liked hearing from Bobby Cox.

Good stuff, Nick, keep it up.
 

lexrageorge

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QUOTE (Laser Show @ Mar 14 2010, 12:19 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=2849534
In today's column, Cafardo talks about how the Twins have yet to sign Mauer, and how this could favor the Red Sox according to sources.





It's interesting to hear this coming from front office people. This anonymous source stuff still bugs me though.




I highly doubt you would get any front office folks going on the record speculating about another team's player's contract situation.
 

Cesar Crespo

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QUOTE (Red(s)HawksFan @ Mar 14 2010, 04:53 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=2849554
I'm curious what exactly this unspoken thing is that makes these front office people think Mauer would sign with Boston over New York. "If you know him..." is pretty nebulous. I would expect that if he's choosing Boston over New York, he's leaving money on the table to do so, because we know the Yankees aren't getting outbid if they want him. And if he's leaving money on the table to sign anywhere, why wouldn't it be to stay where he is, playing for the team he grew up watching.



Maybe hes willing to leave money on the table, but not that much money? Yanks offer 10/220, Sox offer 10/200 and Twins offer 10/150. I dunno though, maybe he prefers college girls?
 

AquaNarc

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I just caught the tail end of his interview with Dennis and Callahan.

Q: Nick, who's one guy in MLB that we might not know that we should look out for this season?
Nick: Uh, you know, Strasburg and Heyward, they're both gonna be superstars.

Q: Nick, internally what are the Red Sox saying about Westmoreland's situation?
Nick: Uh, nobody knows.
 

Carmine Hose

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QUOTE
I just caught the tail end of his interview with Dennis and Callahan.

Q: Nick, who's one guy in MLB that we might not know that we should look out for this season?
Nick: Uh, you know, Strasburg and Heyward, they're both gonna be superstars.

Q: Nick, internally what are the Red Sox saying about Westmoreland's situation?
Nick: Uh, nobody knows.


In Cafardo's defense, I'd imagine few D&C listeners have heard of Jason Heyward. Also, his Westmoreland answer is spot on if you typed the whole thing.
 

Laser Show

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QUOTE (lexrageorge @ Mar 14 2010, 10:36 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=2850374
I highly doubt you would get any front office folks going on the record speculating about another team's player's contract situation.


Yea, I know, but when he's already doing the anonymous thing every week, it's still a bit annoying, if understandable.

Especially since it's very interesting information.
 

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I didn't get the Brian Shouse joke in Apropos, but I have to admit, the bit where Sox players talk about their favorite players at their positions was pretty cool:

QUOTE
Tim Wakefield, pitcher: “Daniel Bard. I think he’s got one of the nicest, simplest, easiest deliveries. He’s a lot like Mariano [Rivera] that way.’’

Clay Buchholz, pitcher: “Josh Beckett. I see how he gets himself ready, and then to watch him go out and execute and dominate like he does is pretty impressive to watch.’’
 

twoBshorty

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Not a fan of anonymous sources, but this needs to be true:

QUOTE
5. Charles Steinberg, marketing/PR guru — He will not be returning to the Red Sox, according to someone familiar with the situation. Steinberg, who was let go by the Dodgers after being caught in the crossfire of the nasty McCourt divorce, is being considered for a position in the Commissioner’s Office.


Also, can someone explain this joke to me? For some reason the pun is not processing. Or maybe it is and the joke is so dumb that I'm thinking there must be something funnier there:

QUOTE
3. I guess Sox lefty candidate Brian (didn’t want to make you) Shouse!
 

mt8thsw9th

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http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/reds...nd_notes_8.html

QUOTE
Posted by Nick Cafardo, Globe Staff April 12, 2010 01:59 PM

Jacoby Ellsbury probably need a couple more games off, according to Francona, but Ellsbury said he could be ready as early as Wednesday. Now that's an optimistic viewpoint since Ellsbury said there was much difference between how he felt after his collision with Bill Hall Sunday in KC and now.
 

mt8thsw9th

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One that I missed because I stopped reading after #2:

QUOTE
4. J.D. Drew's stiff neck is fine and is playing rightfield.


And Adrian Beltre's testicles are playing third. Mike Lowell is jealous on a number of levels.
 

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And this one.... (still hasn't been edited as of 7:27 EST)

QUOTE
Ellsbury said there wasn't much difference between how he felt after his collision with Bill Hall Sunday in KC and now
 

ChinaCat2

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Nick Cafardo tweeted this:

QUOTE
nickcafardo Gary Sheffield says he has "something on the table" with a team and will discuss the opportunity when he returns from his vacation


It's like a mini entry from his "Notes on 9" from Sunday! It was certainly breaking news that Gary Sheffield might play somewhere, sometime in the future....
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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Today's column was a real piece of shit. Probably one of the worst that he's written during the last six months.

I don't have the strength to go through and say why it sucks, but it just does.

If you want to read it for yourself, go here.
 
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