Snell Out; Connolly In
Ian Snell won't pitch in the Arizona Fall League; Mike Connolly will take his place.
Two articles on this issue, the John Perrotto article above and this one from the Royals' team website, offer conflicting explanations for Snell's withdrawal. Here's Perrotto's:
The decision was not related to fatigue as reported on the league's official Web site. Snell logged 154 innings this season between the Pirates and Class AAA Indianapolis, and Littlefield wanted Snell to continue pitching.
Hmm. Here's Major League Baseball's passive-voiced explanation:
Ian Snell is probably a jerk, and I can only speculate as to what's going on here, but it reminds me of this story, summarized by Wilbur Miller:
Why was Snell not quoted in either of these articles? I don't know what happened, but the Pirates' past suggests that this is part of a negative-publicity campaign against Snell. They don't like him, for whatever reason (be it his stuff or his personality), and my guess is that they're going to use every excuse to bury him in the bullpen or in the minors, just like they buried J.J. Davis. It's not hard to do if you can fling dirt freely in the media - already, the residents at one Pirate message board are declaring that they want Snell out of the organization.
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Wow
Walter Young is also another casualty of the organization's perception - besides being big, Walt didn't have much patience or acceptance of the quality of instruction in the organization. But by all accounts he has been a good soldier for the Orioles.
As for Snell - good for him. As for the Spring Training comments, why would you be impressed by someone who was happy or expecting to go down to the minors (and was subsequently released)? I would want players who are pissed off and eager to shove it up the collective ass of management.
Snell could not have done worse than Vogelsong or Meadows this season. He has potential to be a good major league pitcher. But it won't be in Pittsburgh.
by Greg Schuler on Oct 11, 2005 9:11 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Not siding with the Pirates, but where's the dirt?
Are you saying Snell not being quoted is part of some FO campaign? Or that something else is part of some dirt-flinging campaign. I don't see a whole lot of dirt, any in fact, from Littlefield in the story you link to.
He sounded resigned, perhaps disappointed, and that's what Perotto said. But why wouldn't he be disappointed?
So now the media will ask him over and over again about it, and he'll have answers that will be perceived as negative, when they also may simply be honest.
Snell is clearly petulent, but I get that's no reason to just bury him, but maybe we can wait until they do.
Seriously, enough about JJ Davis. He seems lazy, then wants to be a pitcher, then seems to get it, then goes to winter ball, then decides to join a "grueling" conditioning course, and didn't he quit that too, or somehow have a falling out with Dave Stewart (the former pitcher who was doing the training)? All the while, really NOT BEING A VERY GOOD BALLPLAYER. Remove the Pirates from the equation. Any org would have tired of him sooner or later.
by azibuck on Oct 11, 2005 10:47 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

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