Tuesday, July 26, 2016

A Horse, a Stud, The Man, The *Guy*

Decent player. Not a 'guy.'
The team with the most "guys" will almost certainly contend for the World Series trophy come fall.
While every team has 25 guys on its roster--and more guys when rosters expand in September--no team truly has 25 "guys."
Why the quotation marks on "guys," you ask?
Because there are guys. And then there are guys.
According to the Twins' interim GM, Rob Antony, several of his players need to step up to guy level.
Goes the NY Times:
These Twins still believe they have elite young talent, including third baseman Miguel Sano, center fielder Byron Buxton and starter Jose Berrios. But all have disappointed this season.
“I think they want to be guys; I don’t think they know how to just yet,” Antony said, using baseball shorthand for impact players. “Sometimes you’ll see them and they kind of try and put on the facade or act like they’re guys. They’re not guys yet. So it’s going to take some time for them to mature and become major leaguers and be able to perform on a consistent basis. But we do believe that they’re going to be part of our core as we put this thing back together.”
Being a guy, or even the guy, looks like an offshoot of being the man
In Players Tribune last month, Mark DeRosa and Sean Casey, both former players and current MLB Network analysts, played around with the newish lingo. 
Casey said of Nomar Mazara:
He’s legit. I covered the Rangers during spring training and I remember talking with Guillermo Mercedes, who I played with in the minors, and we were on a side field and Mazara was hitting and Guillermo says, “Case, you see this guy right here? This is the guy! This guy is a stud!” He pulled him out of the cage and introduced me to him — really nice kid. A little bit later, I’m talking to Joey Gallo, another top prospect, and he points to Mazara and says the same thing, “This guy’s a stud.” And I’m like, “Wait, but everybody’s talking about you.” And Joey shakes his head. “No, man. This guy. He’s the guy.”
Added DeRosa:
Guys know when a guy is the guy.
Well said, guy.