Zaun's rant: Is he right?

[dagger]

Gregg Zaun's rant in the wake of the Escobar affair is getting a whole lot of attention.

He ripped the organization - AA and Farrell - for the supposed laxness of the clubhouse and lack of accountability for errors.

Here's a summary from the Globe and Mail, all quotes are Zaun's

“The atmosphere they’ve created in this clubhouse is consequence-free. if your name is so-and-so we’ll cut you some slack. We don’t expect you to play the game properly. If you’re of a certain stature in this organization, prospect-wise, you don’t have to perform well, because you’re a prospect... The three-day suspension is sending the message of consequence free environment...

“If I were the manager of this team - not that I’m politicking for the job, I don’t want it - but I’d demand that they act like grown men, play the game like a professional. I wouldn’t ask major-league performances from the guys in that clubhouse, because that’s too much. But I’d ask for professional-calibre performance.”

Zaun criticized rookie outfielder Moises Sierra for not wearing the proper flip sunglasses in the outfield five separate times: “An absolute travesty. The fact no one said anything to him, that’s an absolute joke.”

Zaun then ripped Canadian third baseman Brett Lawrie for his repeated “dumb” base running mistakes and his unapologetic attitude afterward. “This attitude that we have to have fun all the time,” Zaun told McCown. “That’s a bunch of crap... This is a business.”

Zaun said part of the problem is that general manager Alex Anthopoulos is not a baseball guy. “He’s a sabermetrician, a bean counter... and now he’s making baseball decisions. He hasn’t been in [the clubhouse] as a player or a coach. I’m cutting him some slack... What I’ve been watching is guys making idiot mistakes trying to run to third base on a ball hit in front of them, trying to do things they can’t do... then using the excuse of a consequence-free environment.”

It’s hard to evaluate manager John Farrell’s skill based on strategy, said Zaun, because of the personnel situation. “You can evaluate the culture that’s created. It starts at the manager...” The Sportsnet analyst is not surprised at how the team has unravelled. “There are too many young players on the team,” continued Zaun. “This generation of player that is in that clubhouse, minus a couple of guys, don’t care.”

[DonYon]

Zaun has his flaws as an analyst and a commentator, but this is a guy that played in the majors for over a decade. Is anybody really going to question whether he knows something about the workings of a clubhouse and team dynamic that most people don't?

[Mattd97]

Zaun has his flaws as an analyst and a commentator, but this is a guy that played in the majors for over a decade. Is anybody really going to question whether he knows something about the workings of a clubhouse and team dynamic that most people don't?

on the back of being in the mitchell report


honestly i have a tough time coming up with two people whos opinions mean less to me than bob mcowan and greg zaun. damien cox. and doug smith. but then zaun and mcowan are right there with them.

[Kaizen]

I have lost a lot of respect for McCowan after listening to him for the last few years. He knows nothing about sports and changes his mind on a topic faster than anybody. He just wants to be different and go against people to start a controversy. Zaun is an idiot and I have not cared about anything he said since the debacle in Boston when he said EE should be out just because Varitek had done everything right. You know except the whole part about not being able to completely block the plate and allowing EE to touch it before he was tagged.

[torontoaces04]

LOL @ all of the couch-GM's ripping Zaun.

Zaun may be many things... pompous, arrogant, etc... Being uneducated about the game is not one of them.

I respect his opinion, and appreciate that he tells it like it is. He is a Rogers employee, but doesn't feel the same need to tippy-toe around the tough issues, like Campbell, Davidi, et al. He has an opinion, and whether you agree with it our not, you can't knock the guy for speaking it.

He's not blowing hot air to get red in the face. He has EVERY reason to tow the company line, and keep quiet, but has enough respect for both himself, and the fans, to not feed us BS.

Is Escobar an idiot? Yes. Was the 3 game suspension, light? Yes. Do I agree that the sky is falling in Blue Jays land? Nope.

[vaff87]

The team was so competitive when it was a veteran-laden team with Gregg Zaun on it. The constant playoff appearances and multiple world series banners from those years, I'll never forget. Wait... what? That never happened?

[Waylon Mercy]

Zaun is 100% right so refreshing to hear from a Rogers employee and someone from the media...

The Leafs and Raptors always catch a lot of flack time for the Blue Jays to stop being coddled
by everyone.

[tecumseh18]

The team was so competitive when it was a veteran-laden team with Gregg Zaun on it. The constant playoff appearances and multiple world series banners from those years, I'll never forget. Wait... what? That never happened?

What the holy hell does that have to do with anything?

I can't believe the homerism in this thread. People complain endless about Mike "Shillner", but can't handle the opposite. Zaun may approach stopped clock status in terms of how often he's right, but don't shoot the messenger in this case. Jays are en route to what may be their worst record in recent history, so everything is up for discussion.

[Raps in 4]

[Raps in 4]

Jays are en route to what may be their worst record in recent history, so everything is up for discussion.

How is that in any way a reflection of AA and our team culture? We are where we are because of injuries.

I respect his opinion, but it doesn't mean I have to agree with it.

[Nolan]

If this would of came from anyone but Zaun I might of agreed with them. But I get the feeling this is fabricated, sportsnet been trying to sell Zaun as the Don Cherry of baseball with the ridiculous wardrobe and the loud stupid rants about nothing and even if this is his legit opinion he's not exactly a credible dude (cough, cough roids).

[vaff87]

The team was so competitive when it was a veteran-laden team with Gregg Zaun on it. The constant playoff appearances and multiple world series banners from those years, I'll never forget. Wait... what? That never happened?

What the holy hell does that have to do with anything?

I can't believe the homerism in this thread. People complain endless about Mike "Shillner", but can't handle the opposite. Zaun may approach stopped clock status in terms of how often he's right, but don't shoot the messenger in this case. Jays are en route to what may be their worst record in recent history, so everything is up for discussion.

What does it have to do with anything? Gregg Zaun's the one saying "veterans" and "leadership" are what wins. Yet when he was on the Jays as a "veteran leader", with many other veterans to boot, they never had success either. So how is veteran leadership the be-all, end-all he's making it out to be? He's just spouting nonsense.

Maybe the sunglasses hurt Sierra's eyes? Who knows! What exactly should the Jays be doing about Brett Lawrie's base-running that would make you and Zaun happy? Demote him? Bench him? Seriously, what do you want the Jays to do? As for Escobar, they suspended him three games, what do you want? Him getting Kicked off the team? Kicked out of the country? Seriously, what the hell do you want? He never purposely offended anybody.

[J-Roc]

I think people are misinterpreting Zaun's rip on AA for being a bean counter. Basically, if the clubhouse culture is to change, it can't have to come from someone like AA, or even Beeston for that matter. It would have to come from Farrell. Now if the top dogs are old baseball players....like a Nolan Ryan...then certainly you can look for clubhouse culture to be determined from higher levels.

Aside from that though, I mentioned in the other thread it's a load of crap to suggest a losing team can just start punishing away for losing or poor plays. Players would revolt. You tell Brett Lawrie that he can't be himself, you just lost that player.

[Michael Bradley]

AA is not a "sabermetrician". He is more of an old school GM, as evidenced by his drafting (power high school arms, valuing speed, defense, etc). Other than that, I tend to agree with Zaun. AA has admitted to targeting players with shady backgrounds because they tend to be undervalued by their teams and therefore easier to acquire (Escobar, Rasmus, Lawrie, etc). These are players with a boatload of talent but warts in the form of personality that rubs coaches the wrong way. In order for that philosophy to work, the manager needs to be more of a disciplinarian. You can't force Lawrie to stop being a douche (for lack of a better term), but you can control him to the point where he becomes a better ballplayer and not just a guy that does whatever he wants. Make sure you don't take away what makes him good, but at the same time try to minimize the things that will hurt him and/or the team ("stupid baserunning" in this case). Same with Rasmus and Escobar. Farrell deserves a lot of the blame here. I know it's cool to knock old school managers that discipline players for not running hard and things like that, but I think I'd rather have that than whatever Farrell is doing (which appears to be nothing).

The best thing to come out of this whole ordeal might be scapegoating John Farrell. I have no problem with that if it means he is axed (or sent to Boston) at the end of the season.

[Fairview4Life]

The majority of his rant is about the current clubhouse. How much does he actually know about it? I bet it's a lot less than he'd like to believe. Seems like he's more just making judgements based on what he's watching on TV. He should head over to the Raps board and join in on judging players based on their facial expressions.

Lawrie's base running? How many errors has he actually made, and how much has his aggressiveness hurt or even helped the team? I doubt Zaun took the time to go over the 3 times he was thrown out and the 2 runs he scored because a rushed throw was off target or whatever. Lawrie's attitude is "we have to have fun all the time"? That's seriously what he gets from Brett Lawrie? That's pretty weird. I have no doubt Zaun would be praising the hell out of his 110% all the time attitude if the Jays had a better record this season.

[tiger7]

"But I’d ask for professional-calibre performance.”

I find this funny coming from the mouth of a scrub player. He has as much relevance as Jamie Campbell.

[darth_federer]

Can someone post a link to this interview/rant?

Also, he is gonna go the way of Alan Ashby in Houston if he keeps this up.

[bigdirty2]

At least he has the balls to call out Farrell and AA, unlike anyone else in the Toronto media and most of the internet geniuses.

[Raps in 4]

At least he has the balls to call out Farrell and AA, unlike anyone else in the Toronto media and most of the internet geniuses.

You're simultaneously trolling the Jays and Raptors boards. Keep it up.

[J-Roc]

Can someone post a link to this interview/rant?

Also, he is gonna go the way of Alan Ashby in Houston if he keeps this up.

Just go here and choose Tuesday, 6pm, with Zaun and AA.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/590/prime_time_sports/