So much of what I read online is so consistently wrong that I can’t help but make you aware of it regularly. This is what I affectionately call the “Recently In Bullshit…” series, where I highlight something someone said recently and show you how it’s bullshit. Self explanatory, n’est pas?

Corey Brock “Coreybrocks”

One thing that really irks me is when someone who considers themselves an actual journalist (or is pretending to be one) presents a player in the most rosy way possible, instead of being objective and simply describing the player. Here is what I’m talking about:

New #Padres OF Almonte: Slow start in Triple-A, over .300 June + July. Switch-hitter, some pop, can run, defend, Versatility. A nice piece.

— Corey Brock (@FollowThePadres) July 31, 2014

I just wish I could see what Corey would write if it was the Padres getting rid of Almonte. Presumably, it’d look like this:

The truth is somewhere in the middle. Almonte has a high probability of not making any difference whatsoever, despite the fact that he could be useful in the short-term on this bad baseball team. He can only really be considered a “nice piece” if you drunkenly bet the over on the Padres win total prior to 2014 and were praying for the Padres to acquire anyone that could provide marginal value at the end of this lost season.

Dennis Lin did a much better job describing / validating what Almonte is in the UT’s weekly Padres chat:

Commenter: Is Almonte going to be just a 4th outfielder or a stop gap starter until Liriano is ready? Or could be more than that?

Dennis Lin: Doubt he’ll be more than that.

In a more casual sense, Almonte is what scouts call “just a guy”. His upside (on a winner) is as a passable fourth or fifth outfielder.

Note: Corey Brock did reach out to me to clarify what was meant by “nice piece”; he meant a nice piece to the trade, which I don’t think really changes the point. Either way, it doesn’t read that way to begin with.