Today's Max Kellerman and Brian Kenny show had a lot of baseball talk - it led with discussions about recent Yankee roster moves, an anlysis of the Milledge trade and continued on a baseball track. This format is my favorite for Max and Brian as it gives them a chance to show their baseball acuity. While I may not always agree with their analysis, I usually walk away with something to think about during the rest of the day.
The show opened with an analysis of the two recent Yankee roster moves - putting Phil Hughes on the DL with his rib injury and sending Ian Kennedy down to Scranton/Wilkes Barre, while replacing them in the rotation with Rasner and Kei Igawa. The Rasner move paid immediate dividends as other than getting hit in the first inning against Seattle, he pitched a decent game on Sunday. I can't imagine that Igawa, the latest incarnation of Hideki Irabu (or as some pundit called him Hideki IRobYou) will succeed for the Yankees, but I guess that they had no better option. Either that, or maybe they felt that $40M was too much to pay to stick him in the minors. We'll have to see.
There was also a discussion about whether Met fans are still second guessing the Lastings Milledge trade. I have to admit that the first week of the season I had my doubts, as Milledge was (to use a Keith Olbermanism) en fuego. But now that Ryan Church has established himself (.300+ BA with 4 HRs) and Milledge has cooled off significantly (.260 BA, 1 HR) the deal is definitely looking better. Now if Schneider could only stay healthy...
Max Kellerman also had his trademark 1050 Hockey Rant feature (I will seriously miss this segment now that the Rangers have been eliminated) which led off with Bob Gallerstein. The only problem was that Bob had said "exactly" what Max wanted to say about the Rangers so he had nothing to add.
Speaking of having nothing to add, Robin Lundberg and Louie Gold have been muzzled, and I can't say that I am thrilled about it. On Friday I was driving in the car and heard that Lundberg "can't speak." I assumed that he had some kind of throat/voice problem. But today again there were numerous references to the fact that neither Louie nor Lundberg can speak. I don't know if this was an empty suit decision at Disney/ESPN, but I wish they would rescind the order. Lundberg is always quick with a line and its usually quite funny. Although he reminds me of your best friend's smart alec little brother (the one that always got pummelled) his quick wit was an asset to the show. Louie's comments are also missed, partially because he is a Mets fan (they already deported the other Met fan by sending Clete the board-op to Boston) and partially because Louie Gold is the everyman that most listeners can relate to. If my two cents on a blog that gets twenty hits a day counts for anything, I hope that they change their policy.
As always, the Monday Max Kellerman & Brian Kenny show had its allusions to Torah thought. In talking about Hughes and his stint on the DL, the guys mentioned that a player needs to earn his spot on the roster and should not automatically be returned to the big league club simply because he is healthy. This truism was first related in the Mishna in Kiddushin - 4:14. In this Mishna, R' Nehorai relates that he would rather teach his son Torah as it has advantages over mortal professions. R' Nehorai explains that in standard professions, if a person becomes ill, injured or aged, he loses his ability to earn a living and potentially starves. R' Nehorai then remarks that this concept is inapplicable to Torah, since if a person learned Torah but can no longer study at present due to illness, he still reaps the benefits of Torah learning through Heavenly assistance and reward.
R' Nehorai's principle was clearly reflected in Max Kellerman's discussion of not awarding roster slots simply because a player returns from injury. As explained by R' Nehorai thousands of years ago, if someone is injured they do not have the ability to earn a living and can starve. This also links to a prior statement in the same Mishna by R' Meir that our ability to earn a living is dependent on help from above in addition to our own efforts. Similarly with Phil Hughes, due to his injury he is not guaranteed a position on the major league roster. Whether he will get a slot when he returns is not only dependent on his own actions, since the rotation could potentially be full if his replacement succeeds while he is unable to perform.
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