IT'S EASY TO PILE ON AFTER THE FACT...

Try being ground breaking, better, smarter, instead of submitting garbage just to make deadline.   I can't get the last 2 minutes back and it annoys me. Don't know what I mean? Keep reading...

Ernie Palladino of CBS wrote a piece so insanely stupid, I'm not quite sure why it's even in print.  In short, he's telling his audience that the Masahiro Tanaka "gamble" was worse than the Bartolo Colon "gamble"... NOW... Not when they signed Masahiro Tanaka... Now, after Tanaka has been placed on the DL and after there was tenderness in his elbow.   Here... waste some time, read this:

"Alderson? He won his bet. Bartolo Colon is still around and can plan to stay around despite Wednesday’s 6 2/3-inning, four-run, nine-hit loss.

Cashman lost his. He bet that Masahiro Tanaka’s valuable but fragile right arm would weather the season. Now he’s gone for at least a month... Take the Colon gamble, for instance. Last year, Alderson brought the now 41-year-old, rotund righty in as a “placeholder,” as the Daily News’ Andy Martino so aptly put it in his blog Wednesday morning... Then dump him off to some other team by the July 31 trade deadline...Somewhere along the line, however, the plan changed...

The gamble paid off. Alderson won. Cashman, not so much.

He bet that Tanaka would survive at least most of the season before his partially torn ulnar collateral ligament gave way and forced him into Tommy John surgery. If nothing else, he can say it wasn’t the elbow, but the inflamed wrist and forearm that landed him on the 15-day disabled list.

That one lost, he now bets that the tendonitis will subside, and Tanaka can return after a month or so of rest. But considering how these things tend to go, there is an equal likelihood that Tanaka will ultimately have to undergo the season-ending surgery after all and miss at least a chunk of next season, too."

So here's the thing.  If you're a really, smart journalist that wants to be provocative, a way to do it is to make a prediction that Tanaka will break down once signed.  Be it because of over-work in Japan, or something unique. Something no one knows about. You know... actually do the research and present a case to your audience.  But walking into 2015 and suggesting what every regular fan already knows just brings more of the same and it's boring by the way.

When the Yankees signed Tanaka, it was the signing of the year.  Every team wanted Tanaka.

The Mets probably wanted him, but couldn't afford him which is why he's not in Queens.  Secondly, where was Palladino when the Yankees signed Tanaka? He was no where, because Tanaka isn't a gamble. What happened next for Tanaka and the Yankees is unfortunate, but hardly a gamble.

And I'll give you one further... Bartolo Colon has always been solid.  He was solid for the Yankees and he's been solid for the Mets and him doing his job these days is no surprise at all.  In fact, it's encouraging to see a 41 year old still pitching decent.  Colon... is not a gamble either.

Here's the problem with bad opinion pieces; There is no point and there is no substance.  I guess Palladino could have pointed to Zack Wheeler being a gamble as well. He should have... that was the basis for his entire piece.  Wheeler was supposed to be the next big thing in Queens in 2015, until he wasn't because of Tommy John Surgery.  But strangely, Wheeler was never mentioned in Palladino's piece.  I mean, it's fair to say Wheeler was a gamble... especially if Palladino's going there, right?

Here's the bottom line.  Athletes get hurt.  Athletes also shine. That's because athletes are human beings.  Writers write brilliant pieces sometimes.  They also state the obvious and write crap.  Guess what I think of Palladino's piece?

Here's my favorite, a funny comment following the Palladino piece:

 tough guy wrote: "This article is gibberish. I guess it doesn't take much intelligence, insight or ability to be a WFAN 'reporter'. I really have come to expect such drivel from the 'talking heads' at WFAN. It is un-listenable and it is striving to become completely un-readable."

Enjoy your Friday.

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