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Written by At Home Plate Staff (Contact & Archive) on June 07, 2009
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Alex Rios probably didn't endear himself to Blue Jays fans after this video hit YouTube. (Warning: The language used in this video may be offensive to some.)
Athletes are sitting ducks for fans who want to egg them on. Catch a baseball player after an 0-for-5 performance, and he's likely to still be stewing. That's when he'll say something he'll regret, which is probably how Rios feels now.
And Steve Simmons writes Rios is done with the Blue Jays.
Alex Rios has turned into a $10-million embarrassment for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Never mind that he plays the outfield with a not-so-reckless indifference. Never mind that he has taken his five-tool gifts and squandered them with his lack of passion and apathy. Never mind that the hitting numbers aren't anywhere near where they are supposed to be.
All that pales when compared with his foolish act of the other night, exchanging swear words with a fan after turning down an autograph request from a kid, at a charity event no less. Available in today's technology for all to see on YouTube.
Whether management will see it this way or not, Rios essentially is done as a Blue Jay. Failing on the field can be accepted. Failing off the field reflects a certain lack of character. All the apologies in the world may not be able to correct that.
Simmons here is a perfect example of the self-righteous media at its worst. Why should this incident end Rios' career with the Blue Jays? He made one simple mistake, allowed a fan to goad him into an argument. Apparently, that's grounds for a team to release a player it has decided to build around.
No, Simmons is wrong here. He's hoping that athletes are perfect, that having money will somehow make them perfect in their actions and their words. But that isn't how the world works. Instead, Simmons is just using this opportunity to prey upon Rios. I sure Simmons has said and done things much worse than what Rios did, but you better believe he's going to use this to fill column space.
Anyway, we shouldn't expect our athletes to be perfect. They are going to be imperfect and human no matter how much money they make. They're going to take offense to someone calling them a bum after they've had a poor performance. It's definitely not right to curse someone out, but it's also not right to expect them to be perfect.
As for Rios' contract with the Blue Jays, that was a little silly. He signed a six-year, $64 million extension in April of 2008. Rios was coming off a .297/.354/.498 season with 24 homers and 85 RBIs. Not a bad season.
But if you took a look at his minor league numbers, you'd see Rios wasn't exactly that type of player. In 556 games, he put together a .293/.335/.401 batting line. In the majors, Rios has a line of .286/.337/.453. For a team without much money, you don't give $10 million AAV to somebody like that. (You also don't give Vernon Wells superstar-type money, but that's a different blog post.)
Plus, Rios was entering his Age 27 season in 2008. That is widely considered a player's prime year. If you think Rios is going to blossom from his '07 numbers because of his age, you give him big-time money. If you don't -- and the Blue Jays shouldn't have because Rios was basically in his prime; now he's just declining -- you try to trade him while his value is high (i.e. buy low, sell high) or wail until he's a free agent and nab a couple of draft picks off him.
But, hey, that's just me, a silly sportswriter. And hopefully not one of those grandstanding ones. |
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Written by At Home Plate Staff (Contact & Archive) on June 06, 2009
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Dontrelle Willis hasn't made many fans in Detroit. He signed a three-year, $29 million extension that looked foolish at the time, even worse considering what he's accomplished so far. Willis spent last season missing the strike zone by feet and started this season on the disabled list with an anxiety disorder.
His inability to throw strikes consistently has led Dave George of the Palm Beach Post to present a novel idea: convert Willis to an outfielder.
OK, so now it's my turn to overreact.
It's time somebody considered converting Dontrelle to an outfielder rather than a pitcher. He batted .286 with seven extra-base hits for the Marlins in 2007, and three of those hits were triples. Went 3-for-3 in a 2003 playoff game, too, and hit two home runs in a 2006 game against the Mets.
We're talking about a great athlete by any measure, and an enormously positive clubhouse influence, when he's right. Aren't those the same reasons that the St. Louis Cardinals stopped trying to help Ankiel find home plate with his pitches and put him to work instead finding a new career as an everyday player?
If the situation hasn't reached critical mass, it can't be far away. Willis has one major-league victory since joining the Tigers in 2008. Far worse, he's walked 50 batters in 49 innings for Detroit overall. That's not pitching. It's aiming.
When you look at single games or other limited sample sizes, it's not as if Willis is a horrible hitter. But when you look at what he's done throughout his career, you begin to realize that Willis isn't all that great if you want to convert him to a position player.
In 351 major league at-bats, he has hit .234/.280/.359. Those aren't bad numbers for a pitcher. In fact, they're actually pretty good. But consider those numbers for an outfielder being paid $10 (or so) million on what's supposed to be a contending ballclub. That's a little different.
To become a hitter, Willis would have to spend at least the remainder of this season and some of next season developing into a hitter. Ankiel DHed on the days he wasn't pitching when he got sent back to the minor leagues. Willis has a long way to go before becoming a serviceable hitter.
That's nothing to say of the necessary work of fielding an outfield position. You can't just throw a pitcher out there and expect him to field his position all that well.
If the Tigers implement George's plan, they'd get little return on their investment. Their only hope is for Willis to turn things around on the mound. There have been times he hasn't looked horrible, especially his debut this season against the Rangers. Let's see if the kid can regain his stuff. There's a reason the Tigers traded for him. |
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Written by Rob Swift (Contact & Archive) on June 04, 2009
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When I was growing up, I spent a lot of time with my Aunt Agnes and Uncle Karl. Because of my father's death when I was five years old, my extended family stepped in to help my Mom raise my two brothers and I.  My Uncle Karl immigrated to this country from Germany in 1939; he was intelligent, young and Jewish, I'm sure you can figure it out.Â
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He settled just south of Trenton, New Jersey and immediately found work as an electrician with a local hospital. In an effort to assimilate into his new culture, he decided to learn the nuances of baseball. He figured that the best way to do that would be to take in games at Shibe Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies.Â
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Now in 1939, the Phillies were not the upper echelon team that they are now, in fact they were terrible. From 1922 through 1939, they finished in 7th or 8th place 14 out of 17 seasons; this was not a good team. But Uncle Karl was as much a fan of baseball as he was a fan of the Phillies so where they finished did not mean as much to him. Being a part of his community was what was important. I think it was just as important for him to see them lose as it was to see them win.
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By the time I started to stay weekends with him and my Aunt Agnes, he had retired and was enjoying the good life in Sarasota, Florida. Back in the 1970's the Phillies were a pretty good team so they were a staple on NBC's Saturday game of the week. I remember watching at least four games over the summer of '76 with my Uncle out on the Lanai. The image in my mind's eye is of him in a pair of slacks, a t-shirt, and this beat up Phillies cap that must have been 20 years old.Â
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During the course of a game, he would sit very stoically occasionally groaning out of disgust or nodding in approval. Since this was 1976, he had been a fan of the Phillies for over 35 years and had become incredibly knowledgeable about the game. He would point out little things that many fans miss. I was being taught things about baseball that I would use later in life. Hustle when you don't have to, teamwork and sportsmanship are important, and respect; always respect.
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That season Philadelphia finished in first place but ultimately lost in the NLCS to the Big Red Machine known as the Cincinnati Reds. I remember it though and I think that's what is important for me at least. Being the positive role model in my life that he was, he must have cringed when I became a Chicago White Sox fan. True to his form though he never once said anything negative about the Chi-Sox. I think he was just pleased to see his nephew take an interest in the game he had come to love.  Â
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For my Uncle Karl, the Philadelphia Phillies and Major League Baseball was indeed, more than a game. Baseball for him was a way to better understand his new home and his new friends. He wanted to embrace the country that had given him shelter and he wanted to get to know the people. Karl Flanter was a very reserved man who had gotten beat up early in life but did not let that destroy him. He was also a very passionate man and ironically, in my opinion at least, that would be the best way to describe a Phillies fan. |
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Written by Bjoern Hartig (Contact & Archive) on May 31, 2009
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The Rally Monkey worked today.
With the Rangers losing 4-5 against Oakland, the Angels climbed one game over .500 and within 4.5 games of the division lead. However, unless their veteran pitchers like John Lackey (6.05 ERA), Ervin Santana (7.82 ERA), Scot Shields (6.62 ERA, on the DL) and closer Brian Fuentes (5.30 ERA, despite 13 saves) start throwing better, LA will have a tough time winning consistently.
By the way, charged with three earned runs, Aardsma's ERA nearly doubled to 2.13. |
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