Friday, March 9, 2007

Josh Hamilton - ESPN

Today there were two columns written about Josh Hamilton and the Reds. Josh Hamilton, for those who don't know, is a baseball player who has been out of the league for 3 years because of a bad drug addiction. The Reds picked him up in the Rule 5 Draft in the off-season.

The first column was written by ESPN.com baseball columnist Jayson Stark. It is your classic feel good story. Man is on top of the world, man falls off the edge, man hits rock bottom and realizes he has to turn his life around, man turns his life around. The story talks about his support group and how he made it out from addiction. Impressive. By the way - I am not being sarcastic...there are plenty of people who do not make it out from addiction. Every single one of those stories is a heartbreaker, no matter the circumstances. In this case, we should applaud and root for Josh Hamilton that he continues to turn his life around. We should also applaud that he is willing to talk about the mistakes he has made. He meets with kids and tells them not to do what he did, which is laudable.

Now...on the baseball side the story also comments on how well he is playing this spring. I have not had the chance to see any games, but from what I have read he is really lighting it up...apparently he hit a 500 foot homer the other day. {side note - I once hit a ball over 600 feet in one of those virtual video games at Dave & Buster's. I'd like to see Hamilton do that} It's exciting. I hope he makes the team. And that brings us to the second column, written by former Mets GM and ESPN baseball analyst Steve Phillips. In this column, Phillips congratulates Hamilton for what he is doing...and then proceeds to call out the Reds for potentially putting Hamilton on the roster. Phillips writes:

The decision to acquire Hamilton and give him a chance to be a major league player without doing anything to earn it over the past four seasons makes a statement to current Reds major leaguers and especially to the organization's minor league players. This one decision contradicts everything the organization claims is important.

To me it sends the signal to the players (and the fans) that they are willing to take a small risk to vastly improve the ball club and win. The reason it is a small risk is because if Hamilton doesn't work out, they can just send him back to Tampa Bay with $50,000. Small price to find someone who could potentially be a superstar. Later Phillips writes:

They are told to work hard, stay committed to their careers, make good decisions, be professional, be a good teammate, etc.

Isn't this what Hamilton is doing? Yes, he made some bad decisions previously. But isn't he working hard now? Isn't he making good decisions now? From what I hear he is a fine teammate. I just don't understand why you would hang someone forever for some bad decisions. I think Phillips needs to get off his pedestal and check out the view from where normal people live.

I do agree with him that Hamilton would not be getting this kind of treatment if he wasn't a 5 tool outfielder. But just because people get unfairly treated poorly, does that mean everyone should get the same bad treatment? That's bad logic. Plus, this isn't a fair world anyway. Different people get different treatment based on their circumstances. Maybe it shouldn't be that way...but it is. If the Reds gave Hamilton back to the D-Rays, it would be a terrible baseball decision. No matter what the "message" is to other minor leaguers.

To me, this risk says the Reds might actually be serious about winning. Between this move, signing the top two starters, and Adam Dunn's potential resurgance...I am actually excited for the Reds winning chances this year. Especially in what looks to be a weak NL Central.

So kudos to Jayson Stark for his puff piece on Hamilton...at least it made sense. Boo to Steve Phillips for his arrogant rebuttal to Stark.

Labels: Baseball, Cincinnati Reds, ESPN, Josh Hamilton

Posted by Adam Wilson :: 6:56 PM :: 0 comments

Post a Comment

---------------oOo---------------