Bruce Levine

[BeerHere]

I've noted here before that I think this guy is a hack. He's doing a chat now on ESPN (link below) and it's terrible. He answers part of the questions, ignores the parts of the question he knows nothing about.

 

http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/chicago/chat/_/id/42802

 

"Any news on the Cubs former first round pick Hayden Simpson?"

All indications are injuries and attrition have made him more of a suspect than prospect.

If you go through the entire chat, he doesn't really answer questions to any depth whatsoever. I'm not arguing that Simpson isn't more "suspect" than "prospect" at this point but he never mentioned the illness nor does he go on to explain the "attrition" that he mentioned. I don't expect a tremendous amount of depth during a ST chat but this is terrible.

 

Jerry (Chicago): "Cubs will be in a very, very strong financial position come next offseason. Right now - it looks like Cole Hamels has good chance of making it to free agency (maybe Cain as well?). He'll be just 28 for 2013 season - he's going to be a Cub in 2013, right Bruce?"

Epstein has identified free agents 28 and under when he talked to us on "Talkin' Baseball" on Saturday. Hamels would fit into that category.

Never answered the question on Cain nor did he elaborate on what Epstein said on his "Talkin' Baseball" show though he did manage to pimp his own show and of course he asks people to follow his twitter account at the end of the (crappy) chat.

 

Regarding Campana:

I don't know. If it were my club he'd lead off and play center every day. I'd have him find a way to get on base and score early. But no one has asked me to manage yet.

 

Regarding how Vitters has looked in camp thus far:

They're looking for Vitters to stand up and be more responsible and have a big year at Double-A and Triple-A. He's only 22 but seems like been around forever. The consensus is he'll hit.

Never answered the question and spews the only information he has (which is known by everyone) that he has a good bat. Doesn't elaborate on the positions he's playing, doesn't elaborate on defense. Nothing other than what everyone else already knew. He also doesn't know if he'll be in Iowa or Tenn.

 

The entire chat is just broad/general answers that anyone that follows the team already knows. No depth whatsoever and he purposely avoids the questions that he should know but doesn't. The guy is a hack and milks his role at ESPN to get free trips to watch baseball games. He's not a fan and only marginally a journalist and a terrible one at that.

[sneakypower]

last year, Tony Campana hit the ball in the air less than 1/3 of the time he made contact

 

22 of his 37 (59%) hits were of the infield variety; the next highest season (PA > 150) since 2000 was Dave Roberts (49%) in 2003

[SouthSideRyan]

last year, Tony Campana hit the ball in the air less than 1/3 of the time he made contact

 

22 of his 37 (59%) hits were of the infield variety; the next highest season (PA > 150) since 2000 was Dave Roberts (49%) in 2003

 

How many of those were bunt hits?

[sneakypower]

seven

[Guest]

He's a reporter. His job is to report news and rumors and write stories and tweets for a website. His job is not to analyze baseball or prospects.

 

 

Being a sports journalist, particularly a local beat guy, it's more likely than not that his actual opinions on baseball things are pretty stupid, which they are.

[abuck1220]

i agree, let's have campana "find a way" to get on base. everyone should do that actually.

[davearm2]

Not having anything particularly compelling or insightful to say about Hayden Simpson or Josh Vitters one week into ST renders a guy a hack?

 

I guess that leaves me wondering WTF you expected he would have to say about these guys.

[MSG T]

Not having anything particularly compelling or insightful to say about Hayden Simpson or Josh Vitters one week into ST renders a guy a hack?

 

I guess that leaves me wondering WTF you expected he would have to say about these guys.

 

I'm thinking the fact he thinks Campana should play CF everyday and lead off says much more than his vague comments about Vitters.

[biittner77]

He's a reporter. His job is to report news and rumors and write stories and tweets for a website. His job is not to analyze baseball or prospects.

 

 

Being a sports journalist, particularly a local beat guy, it's more likely than not that his actual opinions on baseball things are pretty stupid, which they are.

 

All of that is true, but if he's doing a chat where fans ask him questions about baseball he should be prepared to tell them something they don't already know. Or he shouldn't do chats

[MembersOnlyJacket]

i agree, let's have campana "find a way" to get on base. everyone should do that actually.

 

He has to hit his way on...sorry, old joke.

[davell]

Sorry, but I'll take the opposite approach here. To me, I think it's great we've got a beat guy who does weekly chats. He breaks news better than anyone else for us and while some of his answers are certainly not intelligent, neither are most of his questions he's answering either. It's a 30 minute to an hour long chat and he's trying to answer as many things as he can. And there's usually a piece or two of info within his chats that make them worth reading.

[Irishoshea21]

Disagreed. He's pretty awful at his job. He always, always covers his lack of knowledge with cliche, meaningless sentences. Like his season preview of Cubs catchers.

 

•Welington Castillo: The 24-year-old has big-time power and can throw with the best of them, but the Cubs are not sure of his pitch-calling ability. Castillo called for a slider from Justin Berg in a 2010 game and Giants outfielder Pat Burrell hit a game-changing home run in San Francisco. After that game the previous front office soured on Castillo. He has the tools but maybe not the tool box.

 

What does that tell me? You don't know a damn thing about the kid, so you'll throw some BS defensive cliche and an irrelevant story from a game two years ago.

 

He's a total fraud, like most of his counterparts in this city.

 

It will only get worse as Theo/Co continue to do things their way. Love these idiotic rays beat writers who don't understand why the team they cover is so good. It will be the same here when Theo turns it around.

 

Do yourself a favor and ignore the mainstream media. Amateurs do a better job covering it, and with twitter any "breaking news" is fully out there within minutes.

[Illini Iceman]

Disagreed. He's pretty awful at his job. He always, always covers his lack of knowledge with cliche, meaningless sentences. Like his season preview of Cubs catchers.

 

•Welington Castillo: The 24-year-old has big-time power and can throw with the best of them, but the Cubs are not sure of his pitch-calling ability. Castillo called for a slider from Justin Berg in a 2010 game and Giants outfielder Pat Burrell hit a game-changing home run in San Francisco. After that game the previous front office soured on Castillo. He has the tools but maybe not the tool box.

 

What does that tell me? You don't know a damn thing about the kid, so you'll throw some BS defensive cliche and an irrelevant story from a game two years ago.

 

He's a total fraud, like most of his counterparts in this city.

 

It will only get worse as Theo/Co continue to do things their way. Love these idiotic rays beat writers who don't understand why the team they cover is so good. It will be the same here when Theo turns it around.

 

Do yourself a favor and ignore the mainstream media. Amateurs do a better job covering it, and with twitter any "breaking news" is fully out there within minutes.

 

When the Rays went to the WS in 2008 the local writers voted Jason Bartlett the team MVP and really meant it.

[Guest]

Disagreed. He's pretty awful at his job. He always, always covers his lack of knowledge with cliche, meaningless sentences. Like his season preview of Cubs catchers.

 

•Welington Castillo: The 24-year-old has big-time power and can throw with the best of them, but the Cubs are not sure of his pitch-calling ability. Castillo called for a slider from Justin Berg in a 2010 game and Giants outfielder Pat Burrell hit a game-changing home run in San Francisco. After that game the previous front office soured on Castillo. He has the tools but maybe not the tool box.

 

What does that tell me? You don't know a damn thing about the kid, so you'll throw some BS defensive cliche and an irrelevant story from a game two years ago.

 

He's a total fraud, like most of his counterparts in this city.

 

It will only get worse as Theo/Co continue to do things their way. Love these idiotic rays beat writers who don't understand why the team they cover is so good. It will be the same here when Theo turns it around.

 

Do yourself a favor and ignore the mainstream media. Amateurs do a better job covering it, and with twitter any "breaking news" is fully out there within minutes.

 

When the Rays went to the WS in 2008 the local writers voted Jason Bartlett the team MVP and really meant it.

 

We had people talking about [expletive] Theriot as MVP in 08.