Many years ago, when I was starting out in this business in the Pittsburgh bureau of the Associated Press, we had a seven-man staff, and everyone rotated into each shift.
One of the shifts was midnight to 8 a.m., and one of the other staffers hated it. He would do anything he could to get out of working it, and the best strategy he came up with was fouling up on the shift as often as he could without getting himself fired.
His strategy worked, and the heads of the bureau stopped scheduling him for the midnight shift, much to the consternation of the rest of us, who became burdened with extra midnight-to-eight shifts.
Zack Greinke, who suffered a calf injury last week, will very likely miss the Los Angeles Dodgers’ season-opening trip to Australia, which will suit him just fine. Had he not been injured, he would most likely have started the second game of the two-game series. Now, though, his appearance is, at best, questionable.
I guess this would fall into the category of whatever the opposite is of being careful what you wish for; you might get it. This is, isn’t it, what Greinke wanted? OK, not an injured calf, but he sure wasn’t looking forward to going to Australia for a couple of baseball games.
“I would say there is absolutely zero excitement for it,” Greinke told ESPNLosAngeles.com. “There just isn’t any excitement to it. I can’t think of one reason to be excited for it.”
Do you think Greinke’s comments might have upset a few people in Australia? Do you think they might have upset a few Major League Baseball officials?
In less time than the time difference between Arizona and Australia, that country’s baseball officials were asking what’s going on here. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Australian officials had contacted MLB and the Dodgers for an explanation of Greinke’s remarks. The Herald said officials were withholding comment “until they’ve spoken to relevant parties in America.”
Before anyone could speak to anybody, Greinke and the Dodgers had more to be concerned about than disparaging remarks about Australia. Pitching to his second batter of the spring in his first exhibition appearance, the right-hander had thrown only his fourth pitch when he suffered a mild strain of his right calf.
“I just felt something in my calf,” Greinke told reporters. “Just try to take care of it this early in spring. Hopefully it’s not a big deal. I think it’s minor. We’ll see in a couple of days. Right now, I don’t feel too bad.”
Few would have paid attention to Greinke’s calf injury, except manager Don Mattingly, had he not expressed his displeasure at the need to make the Australian trip. But he did, and it had repercussions. Greinke came to realize that and offered a reconciliatory comment.
“If we’re going to be there, and we obviously are, yes, I’d like to pitch there,” he said. “My comments, I didn’t realize they would cause a stir. I’m looking forward to playing over there. No one wants me to say it, I had to vote to go, my vote was not to go. Now that we are going, I want to be there. I don’t want the team to go and me sit here and watch. I don’t want to go and watch. I want to play.”
Greinke further explained that his original comment was not aimed at the country or its citizens but was about the disruption the trip would have on his routine.
“I want to pitch good, I want to win games,” he said. “You’re forced to do what you’re not used to do. It’s harder to be able to do it to the best of your ability.”
Greinke is the No. 2 pitcher, behind Clayton Kershaw, in the Dodgers’ starting rotation and as such would have been expected to pitch the second game in Australia. Although his calf strained seemed to ease as the days progressed, Mattingly may decide to be cautious and hold Greinke back for a start later in the first go-round of the rotation.
Despite the likelihood of Greinke’s being viewed as the Ugly American, he might have a point in his objection to the Australia sojourn. Major league teams have opened the season in Japan so there’s nothing new or unusual about starting the season in a distant foreign land.
It is, however a long way to travel for a baseball game or two. If I had time, I would make a study of the possible effect an opening foreign series has had on teams. However, I have my own foreign travel for family reasons and ran out of time to look at past developments.
The Players Association has to approve all such international series, and it has approved all of the series that have been played. If the players objected to the trips, the union wouldn’t approve them.
The players, though, understand the purpose of the games. They have an equal interest with MLB in expanding and increasing interest in the game. That’s why the other sports play in venues all over the world.
It’s not the attendance MLB seeks; it’s the fans’ interest in buying MLB caps and shirts and other paraphernalia. That’s where the money is. Television, too. People all over the world can buy television “tickets” to major league games.
MLB Advanced Media is one of the major reasons baseball’s annual revenue has soared beyond the $9 billion level annually. Bob Bowman and his crew have done a remarkable job in generating revenue in their segment of the business, and MLB International would like to do its part as long as Greinke stops being grumpy.