SportsCentr

Hipster manager Joe Maddon has done it again.

Former Giants and World Series semi-participant Mike Fontenot has signed a minor league deal with the Rays. He’s following in the footsteps of Jeff Keppinger, who had a monster year (by Jeff Keppinger standards) in 2012. Fontenot was a useful piece for the Giants after coming over from the Cubs in 2010, but he got caught in a roster crunch last year, and Ryan Theriot usurped him in the light-hitting Louisiana-born utility-infielder-with-a-silent-T-in-his-name role. Ben Zobrist has a hard consonant at the end of his name, so Fontenot has a real fighting chance to start the season with the Rays. Godspeed, Petite Sirah!

(Mike Fontenot fun facts)

The Red Sox are about to trade for a manager - John Farrell of the Blue Jays. The Sox have reportedly been after Farrell for a year, but couldn’t put together a deal that would compensate the Jays for losing their skipper to a division rival. Farrell is their old pitching coach, which worked out so well for the Sox when they tried it with Joe Kerrigan in 2001. Kerrigan went 17-26 to close out the season, signed a multi-year contract, and then got fired in spring training. Which probably wasn’t so bad for Kerrigan and his wallet.

A year after the Kerrigan experiment, the Rays traded outfielder Randy Winn to the Mariners for the right to hire Lou Piniella. The Rays won 70 games for the first time, but that was about all they got. Meanwhile the Mariners enjoyed Winn’s prime and flipped him to the Giants, though they missed the playoffs in Bob Melvin’s first year, despite winning 93 games. Oh, those innocent days of but a single wild card team!

The Mariners cratered in 2004, losing 99 games, and they hired Mike Hargrove the next year. Who lost 93 games. What can we learn from this situation? Well, it probably isn’t a good idea to trade a good player for a manager, but it also doesn’t help to dump your manager, especially if he’s so good another team wants him. For teams on either side of an exchange like this, a player-manager swap does not lead to a lot of Winning.

Look at this fucking manager.

mlboffseason:

Joe Maddon is so hipster he wears retros for teams that haven’t existed long enough for them to have these kind of retros.

(via mlboffseason)

Not to take anything away from rookie Matt Moore’s performance today (a two-hit shutout through seven innings), but “Designated Hitter Yorvit Torrealba” might be the four least-intimidating words in baseball.

YOU CANNOT STOP KELLY SHOPPACH! YOU CAN ONLY HOPE TO CONTAIN HIM!

(Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

Johnny Damon gets a lot of flak in Moneyball. Jonah Hill’s character is happy to get Damon off Oakland’s payroll, and his computer doesn’t like him either. Perhaps he used the film as motivation today, as he hit a two-run homer in the second inning to put the Rays ahead of Texas.

Meanwhile, hipster manager Joe Maddon hasn’t seen Moneyball yet, as he’s currently making his way through a Werner Herzog retrospective.

(Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

Hipster manager Joe Maddon wishes reporters would ask fewer questions about Dan Johnson and more questions about the newest Antony and the Johnsons album.

Hipster manager Joe Maddon isn’t allowed to drink his preferred Pabst Blue Ribbon after games, thanks to MLB’s sponsorship deal with Budweiser. Instead, he went with a 2007 Altamura Cabernet Sauvignon, which is kind of an indie wine, you’ve probably never heard of it.

oldtimefamilybaseball:

fuckyeahrays:

Let’s just celebrate this walk-off win with Papa Maddon. Have I mentioned how much I love this man?

Drinking wine spo-dee-odee, drinking wine.