(obviously, the wrong Chavez. I promise not to regurgitate the joke with the picture of the other Dave Stewart, however).
OF Endy Chavez, last seen toiling for the Phillies after a brief stint with the PCL’s New Orleans Zeyphrs, has signed a one-year deal with the New York Mets.
Team officials have spoken the past two days with Mike Sasson, Byrnes’ California-based agent, to make initial inquiries about the five-year veteran who became a free agent Tuesday when he was cut loose by the Baltimore Orioles.
“I really think Pittsburgh would be a great fit,” Sasson said. “It’s a blue-collar town, and Eric’s a lunch-pail kind of guy. He’ll break through walls for you.”
Though I tend to think Byrnes would have to play for far less than the MLB minimum salary to qualify as “a lunch-pail kind of guy”, if I were the player, I’d be pretty nervous about my agent making such a sales pitch. What happens the first time Byrnes crashes into, but not through, the fence? Unless and until Sasson is willing to guarantee this breaking-through-walls stuff, he really ought to tone down the hyperbole.