Outside The Confines: No sympathy for Zach Plesac

I’m not here to use this platform to call people names or make suppositions about them. I’m certainly not here to call players selfish or hypocritical (okay, that’s deeply untrue, I am not above doing either of those things). But in the case of Zach Plesac, the Cleveland Indians pitcher who recently came under fire for violating MLB’s COVID-19 regulations, well, I’ll let a line from the musical Hamilton summarize my feelings:

“Talk less. Smile more.”

On Thursday, Plesac took to his Instagram to post a lengthy non-apology video about how the media was raking him through the mud over his violations and he really hadn’t done anything wrong. Which was untrue. He not only violated MLB policies by going out to dinner with eight people not on his team, but he did so when a member of his team has a compromised immune system after a battle with cancer.

There’s selfishness, and then there’s selfishness marinated in a lack of self-awareness, and that is where we find Zach Plesac.

Twitter, as you might expect, was none too kind to Plesac, who recorded the video in his car, while driving, and while apparently not wearing a seatbelt.

Oh it keeps going. Nick Francona, son of Indians manager Terry Francona, shared his unfiltered thoughts on the matter.

And a good summation.

Anyway, he’s terrible, and his lack of understanding over what he did wrong is absolutely mind-boggling. We’ll lead off links with some actual articles about the situation if you want more context.

• Jay Jaffe looks at Plesac and teammate Mike Clevinger as cautionary tales.
• In a Joe Noga article, Plesac doesn’t do himself any favors when it comes to garnering sympathy.
• Charlie Blackmon is hitting .500 and may have a fabled .400 season, Emma Baccellieri looks at the historical numbers that might happen this season.
• Brittany Ghiroli looks at what kept Nationals reliever Javy Guerra going through the lowest lows. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Number nerds rejoice! Statcast data is now available on FanGraphs!
• The season has barely started but already the trade deadline looms, so what moves are we going to see as it approaches, asks David Schoenfield.
• Jim Bowden looks at six players whose slow starts might indicate a bigger problem. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Jeffrey Paternostro takes a deep dive into the evolution of Dustin May in the majors. (Baseball Prospectus subscription required.)
• Tom Verducci wonders if the idea of a postseason bubble for MLB can actually work.
• Similarly Jayson Stark isn’t sure if all the players will be on board for the bubble. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• With no minor leagues, demoting players suddenly takes on a much different meaning, writes Keith Law. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• David Penrose looks at the agreement between MLB and ALB and what it could mean for the coming offseason.
• Jake Mailhot looks at the adjustments of Rays reliever Jalen Beeks.
• Joe Kelly has no interest in making friends with the Astros, as he unleashed on their players in a recent podcast, as reported by Buster Olney.
• This is pretty nifty.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.