Apparently reliever Sean Burnett's mother never told him about the kinds of things people in glass houses shouldn't do, besides walk around pantsless.
The newly acquired Nat took a few shots at his former team, the Pirates, who are in the midst of an impressive fire sale. And, as always when players -- baseball players, in particular -- open their mouths, they're saying something stupid.
Burnett said that the Pirates are "the laughingstock of baseball right now," according to the Post Gazette.
That would be Sean Burnett of the 32-70 Washington Nationals. The Nationals that are currently twenty-seven games out of first place. The Nationals that are 11.5 games behind the Pirates. Yeah, those Buccos sure are an embarrassment.
Burnie is reacting the same way all baseball players do. When a familiar name leaves, replaced by some unknown minor league kid, it's automatically a bad deal. After all, that guy they traded away is a proven major leaguer.
"[T]hey don't have anybody they even know. Guys like Jack and Freddy, the faces of the franchise, players they're supposed to be locking up, they're all gone. What's going to bring people to the ballpark now?"
Leaving aside the low-hanging fruit of a Pirates attendance joke, Burnett is lamenting the loss of Jack Wilson -- a serviceable shortstop with a pathetic career .311 on-base percentage -- and Freddy Sanchez -- a second baseman who hits for average, but doesn't walk nor hit with much power.
That these two infielders were some of Pittsburgh's best players says more about the quality of the roster than it does for their talent. Albert Pujols is the Cardinals' best player, but he's got nothing in common with this twosome.
Mr. Burnett is also ignoring the attempts the Pirates made at offering the two a long-term extension last week. They both refused, making the decision to dump them for some excellent prospects all the easier.
What's worse, especially for Nats fans, is that the team that Burnett is on has thusfar refused to trade its few valuable chits. Burnett is mocking the idea of a team improving itself in the mid- to long-term by dumping players who have little current value to their teams.
If he knew what was good for him and the team he's on, he'd be urging Nats interim GM Mike Rizzo to be doing the same thing.
But that's why he's a ballplayer and not a GM. Thankfully.
Meanwhile, that "laughingstock" team is beating his current team in the standings and off the field. As the esteemed Nelson Muntz would say, "Ha Ha!"
Chris Needham used to write Capitol Punishment. Now he twitters about the team, eagerly awaiting news of many, many trades.
