Ok, so not entirely, but that title sounds like something Marty himself would say about certain Reds players.
I've loved Marty (and Joe) my entire life, so it pains me to write this, but there's really no ignoring it at this point. Marty Brennaman has a ridiculous amount of influence with Reds fans, and in my opinion, with the Reds organization. This is a problem because Marty doesn't have the slightest clue at what it takes to build a winning baseball team. Let's just look at the last couple of years:
- Marty harped constantly on Felipe Lopez's defense. Partially justifiable, because Lopez really is a poor defender, but it also ignores the things that Lopez did right. Guy was a great baserunner, had a little pop, and was solid at getting on base.
But you wouldn't have known any of that from listening to Marty though, and you get the sense that Krivsky added Felipe as a throw in to the Washington deal (because it seemed structured around getting rid of an excess outfielder combined with the half assed replacement return in Royce Clayton).
- Marty has consistently been down on Edwin Encarnacion in a very similar situation to Felipe Lopez. Defensive problems are beaten into the ground, while the fact that EdE is young and a pretty good hitter is ignored.
- Now Marty Brennaman is banging the trade Adam Dunn drum as loud as he can. He seems to think that Norris Hopper would be an adequate replacement, which is insanity. In just one year the Reds have gone from having way too many outfield candidates to having just three above average possibilities, one of whom is 37 years old while another is a Rule 5 pick, meaning the wheels could fall of of either at any time. When (I'm not sure we can say if at this point) they trade Adam Dunn the offense will become well below average and the Reds will have a mountain to climb just to get to competitive again.
I don't know if Cincinnati is alone in having an ignorant fan base. I really don't know how many markets would appreciate Adam Dunn (Oakland and ...?) for what he brings to a team while accepting his flaws. But I do know that Marty brings down the average IQ of Cincinnati Reds baseball fans, and I'm starting to at least contemplate that the franchise might be better off without him.
He too often causes fans to get outraged at the wrong things, and I have little doubt that the front office listens, both to Marty and to Marty inspired fan feedback. Brennaman is a larger than life figure in Cincinnati at this point, and he long ago stopped learning anything new about baseball. That's an ugly combination and it's tough to say that Marty helps the organization more than he hurts it.