DON'T MESS WITH MACK
Ken Hoffman calls out a radio host's lame Twitter attack on Mattress Mack
Nov 4, 2019, 2:55 pm
Photo courtesy of Gallery Furniture
This article originally appeared on CultureMap.
When you shoot your mouth off, especially on Twitter, it'd help if you knew what, and who, you're talking about. You could catch a lot of hell.
Witness fool radio host Clay Travis, who's known for being purposely outrageous and controversial. Many times, I'll give it to him, he's on the money.
This time, though, he really stepped in it. Here's his misguided Twitter take from a few days ago:
"I find myself rooting for this Mattress Mack guy to lose all of his money because I'm tired of hearing about him. Marketing genius but I want this guy to go bankrupt. I wish he would lose $100 million."
Houston responds
To say he caught some blowback would be putting it mildly. You don't mess with Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale in Houston, Texas. (He has reportedly lost millions on betting on the Astros.) Perhaps a friend in the press box should have told him to lay off Mattress Mack. Travis would have been on safer ground attacking Mother's Day or military vets.
Some first responders:
"I know multiple families who lost their homes and belongings during Harvey. He let them sleep on beds in his stores, fed them hot meals and made sure their children had clothes. That's what he's done for this community."
"What the F have you done for yours?"
"It's going to happen to you for wishing it on him."
"Oh, look who has another trash take."
"Do a little research and you might feel differently. Our world needs more Mattress Macks."
"Clay, this ain't it. Mattress Mack is a legend."
"This is the wrong take. One of the biggest philanthropists in Houston."
And the one who said it best:
"You're wishing bankruptcy on the man who bought 100-plus tickets so veterans could go to the World Series, who opened his store to those who needed escape from Hurricane Harvey, regularly supports community charities, provides furniture to families in need. I could go on and on and on. GFY."
(You'll have to google GFY.)
Continue on CultureMap to read about the time Ken Hoffman has a similar fail.
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Now that spring training is officially underway, we're able to make some observations about how the Astros 2025 roster is taking shape.
Houston's starting rotation is basically set, but we got to see Hayden Wesneski make his first start in an Astro uniform. Wesneski pitched two innings against the Mets on Tuesday, allowing one run with three strikeouts.
He's working on a curveball that's a new pitch for his repertoire, and he saw some success with it. Hopefully, adding this pitch will help keep batters off balance (especially left-handed hitters) and help elevate his game. Which is nothing new for the Astros, who have a history of helping pitchers get to the next level.
Forrest Whitley also looked good, pitching a clean inning and finishing off his final hitter with a 97 mph fastball. Whitley finally realizing his potential in the big leagues could be a huge deal for the Astros, as they're looking to lighten the workload for Bryan Abreu and Josh Hader this season.
Hader in particular could benefit from this adjustment, as he was much worse when pitching in non-save situations last season. An easy fix with Hader could be trying to limit his workload to mostly save situations. That way, you get the most out of him and achieve the goal of him pitching less innings this year.
The Houston Chronicle's Matt Kawahara wrote about Hader's struggles pitching when games were tied or Houston was trailing.
“Hader converted 34 of 38 save chances but faced more batters in non-save situations (142) than in save situations (136), a sharp pivot from his previous few seasons. Opponents slugged .271 against him in save situations and .411 in non-save situations, while his ERA was more than two runs higher (4.98) in the latter.”
And while it's easy to say “suck it up, you're getting paid a fortune to pitch,” if he's not having success in those situations, and you're looking to back off his workload, this seems like an obvious way to pivot. He's under contract for another four seasons, so the Astros are right to want to be careful with him.
Astros plate discipline
Manager Joe Espada has made it very clear that he would like his offense to see more pitches this season. And we're seeing a stark difference in the approaches from the newly acquired players (Isaac Paredes, Christian Walker) and Houston's returning hitters.
Keep in mind, Paredes was first in pitches per plate appearance last season, and Walker was 10th.
So it shouldn't come as a surprise that Paredes and Walker both worked a full count in their first at-bats on Tuesday, while Mauricio Dubon, Yainer Diaz, and Chas McCormick swung at every pitch in their first at-bats.
Hopefully the new blood in the clubhouse will rub off on the rest of the Astros lineup, which is full of free swingers, especially with Alex Bregman now playing for Boston.
Which is why we're so excited about Cam Smith's early results. While we're super pumped about his two home runs on Tuesday, we're equally impressed that he walked in his first two at-bats this spring. If anyone would naturally be jumping out of their shoes to make a strong first impression, you would think it's the guy that was traded for Kyle Tucker. But Smith was patient, and he was rewarded for it.
What is Dana Brown saying privately?
Just last offseason, Brown was talking about extending Tucker and Bregman while also signing Hader to a shocking 5-year, $95 million deal. Plus, the team signed Jose Altuve to a whopping $150 million extension. Fast-forward one year and Tucker has been traded, Bregman left in free agency, and Ryan Pressly was dealt in a salary dump. Safe to say, his vision for the ball club has changed drastically in one season. Welcome to baseball economics under Jim Crane!
We're just scratching the surface on everything covered in the video above. Be sure to hit play to watch the full conversation!
The countdown to Opening Day is on. Join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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