Baseball’s Knack For Getting It Wrong Continues With Matt Kemp

Posted on by Adam Cubbage

In 1999 Chipper Jones won the Most Valuable Player award with a monster month of September that propelled the Atlanta Braves to a world series appearance. That year Jones, entering the prime of his career, batted .319 with 45 home runs, 110 runs batted in and added 25 stolen bases. At the halfway point that year Jones had a line of 21 home runs, 57 runs batted in and an average of .313, yet was passed over for the All-Star team for Matt Williams and Ed Sprague. 

In 2002 Pedro Martinez inexplicably lost to Barry Zito for the American League Cy Young award despite posting a lower earned run average and more strikeouts. Wins above replacement seems to be the only argument Barry Zito had against Martinez that season and the argument is left moot because if we were considering the value of a player to his team all along Greg Maddux should have won the National League MVP award for his fantastic 1995 season with the Braves over Barry Larkin of the Reds (he finished third even behind Dante Bichette).

I put all of that out there to say this: Matt Kemp is another sad case in baseball’s often troubled recognition system. He led the league in home runs and runs batted in. He was third in batting, had a WAR of 10 and accomplished this all while playing Gold Glove defense. Ryan Braun is a fantastic player but clearly benefited from the protection given him by Prince Fielder, Corey Hart, Rickie Weeks and the rest. That said he still finished with fewer home runs and rbi’s than Kemp and a lower WAR (7.7). Does Braun duplicate those numbers in a line-up that has a banged up Andre Ethier and a curiously punch-less James Loney? Who knows. Matt Kemp did; and to pass him over for a season that almost ended with a triple crown (the first since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967) is a travesty.

Writing

Posted on by Adam Cubbage

I was listening to Seth Meyers a few weeks ago and he was talking about his writing process. He spoke of the insane amount of focus it takes to write and deliver jokes. I tend to agree with him on this. This process for “Comedic Revival” right now is a mixture of thoughts, jokes, music, and things that are happening in my life. Giving an in depth look at how things are done in my head from thought to final product. A lot of my problem used to come from focus. I used to apply it to things that didn’t interest me or sounded good. Sometimes I wouldn’t focus and found it easy to just tune out and let my mind wander. Then I woke up and realized that wasn’t any way to live. Every one of us has an ability to do whatever it is we want to do. I truly believe that. If you want to create something that you believe in and have always loved, there’s no reason not to put everything you have into it. I genuinely enjoy the process of creating something and hoping I connect with people. I hope that they connect with me in a way they never were able to. In this case, the process of writing jokes and hoping they’re good for everyone else is something I’ve stopped trying to do. I fell into a trap of trying to please everyone else. Trying to make sure I don’t offend or hurt any feelings. It is never my intention to do either of those things. At the same time, a lot of what I was thinking was lost because I was too concerned about how someone would react. Which is why for some time I didn’t focus on stand-up. I turned my back on it because I found the whole process of trying not to offend too much. Now I focus on jokes like I used to, and I’m not afraid of trying new things anymore. I’ve also lost that fear of voicing an opinion in my jokes because why shouldn’t I? Just a quick thought. More to come of course.