Kearns = Bizzaro Boone?

[Wally Mo Pena]

Want to see some weird stuff? I found this posted at another site an thought it was worth a repost:

Mired in a horrible slump through all of April 1997, Bret Boone entered May with a pitiful .133/.224/.173/.397 stat line, struggling like only a Boone can he meandered through the next 5 weeks with little power and barely acceptable on base skills.

Boone like Austin Kearns had burst upon the Reds scene with a bang and his first season was batting average driven with a nice display of power for a middle infielder. However like Kearns the next two seasons showed a decrease from the original version that got everybody so excited. Dropping in every category and eventually creating less runs than the average being created by their peers.
AVG OBA SLG OWP RC/G RCAP
Bret Boone .320 .368 .491 .583 6.27 13
Bret Boone .267 .326 .429 .474 4.71 2
Bret Boone .233 .275 .354 .295 3.18 -13


Austin Kearns .315 .407 .500 .646 7.54 12
Austin Kearns .264 .364 .455 .564 5.91 2
Austin Kearns .230 .321 .419 .443 4.30 -9
Those eerily similar numbers earned both players a trip back to the farm, and the similarities didn’t stop there. With the Kearns move we got an end of the weekend attempt to shake up an underperforming player, with Boone the move was made on a Friday morning, rippling through the clubhouse and getting this reply from Bowden:

‘’This isn’t punishment or demotion,'’ Bowden said.
‘’It’s a matter of straightening him out and getting him back here. You need to make adjustments in this game, no matter who you are. I think that message will get through the clubhouse. This is not intended to be shock treatment.'’

Today concerning Kearns demotion Dan O’Brien said:
“It just didn’t come together for him,” general manager Dan O’Brien said.
“Right now our only focus is to get [Kearns] back to where he should be and needs to be,” O’Brien said. “That’s our one and only focus.”

But here is where the to events start to diverge.
Bowden lauded Boone for handling the news professionally. Boone said that he hadn’t seen it coming, that he was called in to see Bowden and Knight and was shocked at the news.

He hung around Jacobs Field (where the team was playing an interleague series) for an hour or so and gathered his things, then decided to drive back alone to Cincinnati and gathered his thoughts. Boone could have taken 72 hours to report to the minors, but called his younger brother, Indianapolis third baseman Aaron Boone, in the clubhouse after that team’s doubleheader and told him he was reporting the next day.

‘’I think he’s handling it tremendously and very professionally,'’ said Indianapolis manager Dave Miley.

Oh, there were so many chances to speak up and to speak out. He gave a mass pregame interview to the gathered media, but chose perspective over outrage, saying, ‘‘in the big picture, there are worse things in life.'’

Before he addressed the media, though, he realized he had forgotten his Indianapolis hat and politely asked a team representative if he wanted to retrieve one for him to help publicize the team for the cameras. Done. Boone also wore a T-shirt to the interview that spoke his attitude, ‘’Shut Up and Play.'’
http://www.cincypost.com/sports/1997/boone062097.html

Kearns on the other hand was quoted as saying:
“We’ve got an outfield problem here,” he said. “We’ve got guys who can play every day who are trying to establish themselves as everyday players. Even if I go down and come back, it’s still going to be the same situation. It just comes to a point in everyone’s career where you want to establish yourself and be in there every day. Call that selfish or anything you want, but that’s just how it is.

http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASAp...=.jsp&c_id=cin
.224/.306/.394/.700 in a 170 ab’s is not doing it and on a team with lots of power and limited speed and fielding in the outfield; carrying a LH PH and a guy who needs more ab’s than he’s going get as a backup screams for a change.

One more weird coincidence, in 1997:
“The timing of the move was curious. The Reds were already without outfielder Curtis Goodwin, who was given permission to return home to California to attend his grandmother’s funeral.”

In today’s notes on Kearns this could be found at the end of the article.
“LaRue on leave: Catcher Jason LaRue was placed on the bereavement list to attend the funeral of his grandfather, Carl LaRue, in Crockett, Texas. He is expected to return to the Reds on Tuesday, and he’ll be activated Wednesday.”

So down goes Kearns, much like Boone did….. will he come back as quick? Boone’s stay in AAA was short due to an injury on the Reds and 3 games later he was back (like kearns’ last demotion). His post All Star numbers were decent for a middle infielder .258/.326/.396/.723, but hardly anything to write home about (like kearns’ last demotion).

What’s next for Kearns? Who really knows? One thing for sure is his stay in AAA won’t be forever if he’ll ‘’Shut Up and Play.'’

[QuietAcre]

Very eery, is all I can think of right now. Kearns strikes me as a quitter. He obviously hasn't grasped that MLB players are supposed to be the best in the world, and that if you can't or won't compete against them, then you don't belong with them. He's really hurting himself and the team with this attitude of his.

[redsrbetter]

Really nice find Wally, thanks for sharing!

I really hope all this goes to Kearns head and he realizes that he has not been as effective as he could be. Then he should stop crying and realize that his ABs will be there for him in Louisville for a while, then wait to see what happens through the likely firesale which could make room for him somewhere.