The Slanch Report

There are sometimes some very silly bobblehead giveaways, for example, the other night the Dodgers gave out a Joe Beimel bobblehead. Beimel, best known previously for getting drunk before the 2006 playoffs and getting hurt in a bar, thus ending his team’s hopes in the playoffs, was voted to get a bobblehead even before such actual stars like Matt Kemp or Chad Billingsley. These things are all politics.

Sometimes, teams plan bobblehead promotions too far in advance, for example, when the Toronto Blue Jays cut Frank Thomas only days in advance of his bobblehead day, or the Kansas City Royals, who planned a Tony Pena Jr. bobblehead night in the beginning of the season. Only problem is, now, Pena is hitting a robust .160 and lost his starting job long ago to rookie “sensation” Mike Aviles. Because they already planned the night and had the bobbleheads made, the Royals are going through with the promotion which will be held on September 6.

Who knows, maybe between now and then the slick-fielding Pena will suddenly learn to hit and become an unstoppable offensive force, propelling the Royals to AL Central glory, and thus making him worthy of a bobblehead. Or he could languish on the bench for the rest of the season as a defensive replacement and then fade off to obscurity. If I were him, I’d grab a couple of those bobbleheads, methinks there won’t ever be another Tony Pena Jr. day in the big leagues.

“The decision to have a Tony bobblehead promotion was made back in February and March,” Royals vice president of sales and marketing Mark Tilson said, “When you think about the Royals situation back then, Tony was coming off a very good year and was regarded around the league as one of the top defensive shortstops in baseball. There was really no way of anticipating that he wouldn’t be the regular starter now. And when we plan these promotions and carry them out, it’s not really performance based.” Which means that the promotional staff and the scouting staff work off the same idea! Yes! Nailed it!