Zach Duke vs The Mets

Smokky1,

GRRRR-R-R-R-R!

I've been out of town for a couple of days, but just got back and read this thread.

Some nice folks here have tried to warn you that you will annoy a lot of members of this board by disrespecting Zach Duke. I just realized, in reading this thread, that I would be less irritated by your comments if you were picking on my own son, instead of one of "OUR" favorite sons, Zach.

What a fine young man, with a terrific, kind, humble dad who still posts here from time to time. And what a tremendous young MLB pitcher!!!!!

I don't care if the following is fair or NOT, you have been warned by several people above:

You can post your picks and pans of MLB teams, you can even "dis" my Twins. You can criticize almost any other MLB pitcher or player. But please listen to the posts above by our other members (the other "owners", along with me, of this forum). Quit picking on our Zach, or we will not invite you into our "home" and our baseball discussions much longer.

Julie

MN-Mom,

I think you raise very good points with respect to Zach and I think we can also generalize beyond Zach as well.

Firstly - IMHO - negative commentary regarding amateur ballplayers should be off limits on these forums. I believe the charter is to help young ball players not denigrate them.

With respect to pro players, most of the commentary is fair game imho because these are public figures. However, when we all know a member's son is in the big leagues, out of respect and common courtesy, the negative commentary should be off limits - especially someone with Zach's ability and character.

Zach is not the first big leaguer nor is he going to be the last member's son to make it to the show. Daniel Ortmeier is currently with the Giants. I believe one of Kevin Millar's parents are also members. We also have many very talented members in the minor leagues and college who all have a legitimate shot to make it all the way. IMHO - It is not a lot to ask to be respectful of these special players who have achieved what just about every young player would like to experience some day

Deleted by bighit15

Hmmmmmmmmmmm. A fair number of posts reiterating the "over rated" but nary a one post explaining why or how, or by what standards, Zach is alleged to be so "over rated."
So long as Zach can stay healthy, when he gets to his arbitration and, especially, free agency years, he is very likely to become a very highly compensated player. He will be darn deserving of every mega buck thrown his way. He is a wonderful talent with a great feel for the game and for pitching. From every interview of him I have seen, Zach is also very good for the game.
I guess if I were to summarize my impression of the posts of Smokky1, it would be as follows:
his opinion of his ability to express an opinion is vastly overrated.

To all of the good folks at hsbaseballweb(yes, I include "smokky1" also):

I do not read hsbaseballweb as "religiously" as I used to since my son has been out of HS for over 5 years now(see my signature line), and I certainly am a very infrequent poster of late.....This thread humbles me.

First, smokkey1.
You certainly have every right to your opinion. Hope you have learned a little about choosing where you spout it off though. Zach may be over-rated in many venues, just not by most of the old-timers on this site. It is called "earning respect". The old-timers know that NOTHING was given to Zach in the world of baseball. As a 20th round draft pick, he had to EARN his way from the bottom of professional baseball to now getting the privilege of playing the game against the HIGHEST level of competition.... at the top level, it IS hard to always be better than the opponent.

I guess if you are basing your "over-rated" label on Zach not matching his rookie season statistics, you are right. Please return to hsbaseballweb and tell me if he is still "over-rated" after he has completed his 3rd full season of MLB.

Zach's last 2 starts: 2 games ago he out-dueled Jose Contreres and was on the verge of ending his 17 game consecutive win streak until the bull-pen lost the game. Yesterday, Zach pitched well enough to have been the winning pitcher and would have snapped Tom Glavin's 10 game winning streak but the bull-pen once again lost. I guess the 2 opposing pitchers must be "over-rated" also.

"smokky1", you are young, have not gone anywhere yet(your location states "nowhere") and you MAY get a chance to play baseball beyond where you do today. Don't set yourself up for failure before you ever get a chance- learn from the very small mistake you made with your posts in this thread.

TO ALL OF THE GREAT FRIENDS WHO HAVE POSTED BEFORE ME IN THIS THREAD:

Ya'll make Bob Howdeshell proud. I am glad to share some of the pride that keeps hsbaseballweb at the top of ALL baseball forums!!!

Baseball makes great friends- ya'll certainly are.

OPP---

ALWAYS nice to know you're still out there reading! Touche to your post!

The score is becoming a rout. OPP and the Websters: 57 () smokky1: smoked.

OPP, thanks for a terrific post.

And thank you to all the valued members of this community who posted above. It's a reminder to me and to everyone, what a privilege it is to be able to be informed, educated, advised, and entertained by the posters here.

Sometimes people post a thank you to whoever "runs" the site, referring to owners and/or moderators, but of course the members who have been here a long time know that the housekeeping that gets done behind the scenes is not the most important part. The meat of this site, the heart of this site, the value of this site, is all the stories and tidbits and anecdotes and advice we all get to read here, from all of the members who have posted above: Moms and dads of major leaguers and future major leaguers, coaches of colleges or travel teams, an owner of a major scouting organization who has the "ear" of MLB organizations daily, a few pro scouts and some umps sprinkled in. Many, many parents whose sons are still young and dreaming of such a bright future, and some "experienced" parents or players who are willing to share with us their disappointments or a baseball "career" that went down a different path than expected.

But even all of that unique information is not the whole story of what makes these members so special. It's also the relationships that form, the encouragement offered, the in-depth discussions (on-line or off-line by e-mail, phone, or even in person), the favors that some of these "VIPs" do for some other members and their sons without asking anything in return.

I feel privileged every day to be able to be involved with all of those members who give so much, and it does start to feel a bit like family. And I just love OPP's attitude, displayed from the very beginning in his modest moniker, One Player's Pop. Just one player's pop. But doggone, that handsome and very talented son belongs to all the moms and pops here, so don't mess with our boy!

Smokky1,
When you make it to the bigs, then you can talk the way you are. How can you call him overrated when he has accomplished alot more than most, including you?

I started this thread to continue the celebration of "one of our own". And I tried to do it in a fun way.

Lets not let some cyber fool run it down. If he comes on again and spouts his bs - just wipe it out. Please.

This is a forum, he has his own opinion, so let it be. I don't think he tried to disrespect anyone here. TRhit, relax, I think you're going a bit overboard with this. A lot of people on this site have been rooting for Zach for a long time and think of him almost as a second son. For someone who hasn't been around this site he may very well just seem like another major league pitcher. Although that is a HUGE accomplishment, there are still bigger and better things this kid can do. He still has a lot to prove in the show if he wants to be mentioned with the elite players.

OPP great to hear from you.

I've missed you around these parts.

The kid's post didn't bother me. OPP knows I'm a great fan of Zach. There are always those that think others are overrated. Whether that's out of jealousy, just a different viewpoint than the majority of the world, or they're just plain stupid...... they're always out there.

Smokky - My son would love to be as over-rated as Zach! LOL