Davidi: the Snider Saga

[Fairview4Life]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/2012/09/26/travis_snider_saga_part_two_deal_gone_sour/

Part 2.

Ugh. Cito's, Tenace's and Snider's attitude at the time: "Who the **** do you think you are?".

[Duffman100]

Cito and Tenace were likely treating young players like this throughout their careers (Green and Snider are just the ones who've talked about it publicly). It probably worked for some, but it certainly didn't work for Snider. But if you're a coach, you have to be able to adapt to the situation and the individual. On that level, it's a total failure on the organization's part to allow this to happen.

I have to agree 100% with this point. Unless the player is a complete unmanageable malcontent, the coach's job is adapt and use different motivational strategies with different players. A player doesn't have 100% to adapt to a manager and a manager doesn't 100% have to adapt to a player. But the onus is on the manager to go out of his way to make it work.

edit: Furthermore, if management noticed the relationship souring and Snider starting to regress AND they knew Cito was out the door, they should have sent Snider down to AAA and waited for the new manager to come into place.

[Michael Bradley]

Snider either has a lot of balls or is incredibly stupid.

Why would he make all of this public, whether it is true or not, and risk alienating future coaches, managers, and general managers? It does nothing to help him or his reputation. He was better off saying nothing.

[BigLeagueChew]

Snider either has a lot of balls or is incredibly stupid.

Why would he make all of this public, whether it is true or not, and risk alienating future coaches, managers, and general managers? It does nothing to help him or his reputation. He was better off saying nothing.

Davidi tells us he sits down with Snider to hear his thoughts but so far it's not just his thoughts, it's full of Gaston , Tenace and Anthoupoulos quotes. So to be fair to Snider, he's not the only one making this public.

Either Davidi has a bunch of quotes held onto for this article, or he didn't just sit down with Snider.

It makes it seem like Snider was traded because of what happened 2 years ago with Gaston and Tenace instead of something that happened more recently. If that's the case, we held onto him until we could get something for him, and is the reason why Thames was playing left field instead of him, although i don't think that's a good reason to play a worse player for a better one..

[Geddy]

Snider sounds like he doesn't have much mental fortitude. Every little thing that is said to him or not said to him gets him worked up. I bet almost every young player deals with contract negotiations regardless of them having an agent or not so it's not like AA was mistreating him by talking about his next contract.

He finally decided to change his swing mechanics in 2011. If he had bothered to listen to Tenace and work with him when he was first called up he might not have been in that situation.

[youreachiteach]

I agree, Geddy. Prior to my diatribe on the matter, I will say that Snider does have better talent than Thames, and I wouldn't have minded the team giving him a shot over anyone else once Cito's ass was out the door. Speaking of doors of opportunity...

It is true that the Jays were charged with developing him. They failed to do so. If he turns out, they will bear the brunt of this. This article is clearly of that opinion, and that strikes me as odd, too, because it seems so smarmy-- although the article probably wouldn't have been published either way without that slant.

Perhaps AA and management were too honest/too brusque and did not take a more psychologically appropriate tack with Snider; but remember, touchy-feely happy together moments are at a premium in major league coaches, yes? To expect them to try to help; be rebuffed and then change gears seamlessly seems to me to be asking too much. For a younger player cum manager, maybe not. But for old school guys (which the league is full of?)? Nah. All that said, Snider's remarks are bilge worthy.

This is a guy who is a walking contradiction. He keeps mentioning how he came to all these "self-realizations", and yet, following each of them, was another whiny, why me! reaction to his circumstances, right down to this whole woe is me article!! It was never about him (only when he decided it was). And frankly, the fact that he is "admitting" all of these failures does not absolve him of anything, whether he was young or not. I know plenty of people who started taking care of their brothers and sisters at 12--these were probably more mature individuals then than Snider is today.

For a player who hadn't proved much of anything to that point; who had argued with the coaches handling, who had been injured, the amount of hubris left in him to demand a far better long term contract is frankly shocking. Edwin got 1 million for playing poorly in the majors!! How much did he want? His answer--bbbbbut...you promised!!!

You'd figure after all the "difficulties" he had suffered through in his life that he'd take the offer and then put himself in a better position to negotiate. It seems he simply wanted a blank cheque for his mistakes (600 at bats) regardless of performance. Of course, sure, they want to give you a shot, but you have to show something that lets them know extra at bats would clear the problem up. I simply don't know why he doesn't get this.

It is evident Travis doesn't like to take personal responsibility for his actions--so when he does finally accept some responsibility for his predicament (as his lousy attitude and behavior have forced him into) and becomes productive for a short while he uses it as a crutch to absolve himself of the role it had played in his predicament. He SAYS he's learned--but his behavior belies his words. He simply believed his own press and then ate himself up. That's on Travis, not really on the Jays.

I liked Snider as an outfield prospect--but now you know why the team refused to show him preferential treatment when the time came--he had bit the hand that fed him too many times, and they were understandably reticent to attach themselves to him again. He had simply becomes a devalued piece they were desperate to get rid of, and that follows with the trade AA made.

[YogiStewart]

Snider either has a lot of balls or is incredibly stupid.

you're an athlete. you're THE 1% on the verge of becoming the 0.01%.
you're told by your agent that you're a star waiting to happen. you've dominated every league up until you're 18.
hard to get through to some guys when they think like this.

[NeverGoingToWin]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/2012/0 ... en_lifted/

Part 3.

[Rhettmatic]

I'm sure it'll be available in higher-quality video soon but Snider made an insane catch today:

http://www.telly.com/LO4MJ?fromtwitvid=1

[NeverGoingToWin]

That really was an amazing catch. You would not think he would be a great fielder when you look at him but he is good.

[MGD24]

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=25129115&c_id=mlb

[Schad]

Snider either has a lot of balls or is incredibly stupid.

you're an athlete. you're THE 1% on the verge of becoming the 0.01%.
you're told by your agent that you're a star waiting to happen. you've dominated every league up until you're 18.
hard to get through to some guys when they think like this.

Put yourself in his shoes, though. You're a kid drafted by an organization, promoted quickly, and are told along the way that you're a future cornerstone of the team. Then, you reach the bigs, and pretty much the first thing you hear is "your swing won't work here; change it." Again, doesn't matter if it's correct, it shows an abysmal lack of understanding of the psychology of a person who is barely 20.

[Ian4]

Highlight Pirates
Video 9/27/12: Travis Snider scales the fence on Mike Baxter's blast and extends high above the wall to pull back a homer with a phenomenal catch
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?conte ... d=34874412