baseball media

My god, this is stupid:

The Showalter Plan realigns as follows, with four divisions of seven teams each, arranged geographically to keep all divisions as much within the same time zone as possible -- another simple, common-sense idea. Gee, how novel. Here it is:

Buck Showalter Realignment Plan
Babe Ruth Division	Jackie Robinson Division	Roberto Clemente Division	Hank Aaron Division
Yankees	Dodgers	Cubs	Royals
Mets	Angels	White Sox	Cardinals
Red Sox	Padres	Indians	Rangers
Blue Jays	Mariners	Reds	Astros
Orioles	Giants	Twins	Tigers
Nationals	Diamondbacks	Brewers	Braves
Phillies	Athletics	Pirates	Rockies

[From ESPN.com - Baseball needs to consider the Buck Showalter Relocation Plan ]

I saw Showalter selling this on Baseball Tonight. What a fool he made of himself. First, he kept talking about how his plan decreases travel because the divisions are regional. Hello? He wants a balanced schedule, so everyone travels everywhere.

Second, how do you say you're emphasizing regional rivalries and have the Cards & Cubs in separate divisions? And again, his plan has a balanced schedule. How does that emphasize rivalries? His plan also has the Yankees play the Mariners as often as they play the Red Sox. Good luck selling that MLB, Fox & your bosses at ESPN, Buck my boy.

He also suggested the Rays would be a good candidate for contraction the year after they were in the World Series? What is he smoking?

There's a good reason I usually fast forward through both the commercials and the talking heads on BT.

If you're not reading Fire Joe Morgan, you should if you care about the sorry state of baseball media. As a good start, try this fisking of an article that displays several of the standard "mediot" (as we called them on rec.sports.baseball back in the '90s) tendencies. Among these are the strange compulsion of the sports media to blame team failure on individuals. "Ken Tremendous" states what should be obvious to the mediots, but unfortunately is not:

There are eight position players, five starting pitchers (usually) and several relievers on a baseball team. They play 162 games per year, then between one and three playoff series in an attempt to win the World Series. Teams have vastly different payroll thresholds, and every year they contend with injuries, fluctuations in performance, and the relative strength of the other teams in their division. One man, no matter how good, cannot single-handedly win a championship in a team sport.