Michael Kay, the brave…

For those of you coming in late, here’s a very quick catch up review:

The Twins’ Josh Donaldson recently made note of the fact that Gerrit Cole’s spin rate dropped in his subsequent start after MLB announced it would take the crime of pitchers doctoring balls more seriously. Cole, who’s always been one of the names mentioned when this discussion arises, didn’t do himself any favors when he lost a grappling match with a direct yes or no question about whether or not he’d ever used a substance on a baseball.

Never one to miss an opportunity to pander to the lowest common denominator baseball fan, Michael Kay said yesterday, that if he were Gerrit Cole, he would hit Josh Donaldson in the ribs with a pitch.

“You wanna talk? Try talking with a broken rib,” said Kay faux aggressively, in his hypothetical situation.

In other words, I don’t like something person A said about person B, and if I were person B, I’d commit assault on person A from 60’ away.

The first part of that is beyond childish. Actually, my apologies to children as most children are aware assaulting someone because of something they said is wrong. The second part is just cowardly – instead of confronting someone face to face, I’ll challenge them from 60’ away – and I’m doing it hypothetically as if I were another person – you know, a person who actually had talent and courage.

After receiving a ton of well-earned negative feedback, Mr. Unmanageable went on Twitter (…allow a moment for the immense bravery to waft over us…), and posted the following:

“Little nuance here, haters. I NEVER said Cole should do it. I said if I had enough talent to be a MLB pitcher and someone called me out unfairly, I would drill him. Under no circumstances do I advocate Cole hitting him. Got it? Good.”

Yeah, we got it. Not only are you childish and cowardly, you’re dumb if you think that “clarification” casts you in a better light. I’ll translate that, for those of you scoring at home…

“If I had the talent and the opportunity to be in a position to assault someone because they said something about me I didn’t like I would do it.”

Let’s get a few things out of the way:

What Josh Donaldson said was not unfair, and I mean not even close to being unfair. Whether you agree with what he’s implying or not is a different discussion, but it’s certainly a fair question to raise.

Unsurprisingly to everyone, the YES Network did not bring the issue up at all on last night’s broadcast. “Don’t not criticize anything or anyone related to the Yankees” is a (post George) Steinbrenner family rule. Not quite as cowardly as what Kay did but they need to be better – sometimes your employees ARE the story.

That aside, I’m almost glad all of this has gotten as much attention as it has. I’ve been saying for two decades that Kay is a cowardly fraud, and a not particularly bright one at that. It seems like my sentiment has been getting more traction lately. If you disagree, that’s cool, but ask yourself: Would Michael Kay be that verbally aggressive to Josh Donaldson’s face?

Did I miss something? Let me know.