Torii Hunter really embarrased himself by whining that the Angles told him they had no more money to re-sign him, yet they went out and signed Josh Hamilton for $125 million.
Torii, you're no Josh Hamilton. Thank goodness.
No, you probably don't have the raw talent of Hamilton. Josh is a big bundle of plusses and minuses, he's a talented, streaky hitter and potentially fantastic outfielder. He was a pricey acquisition, but he's battling alcohol and drugs, and as the Dallas News pointed out this week, those years of self-abuse will hasten the end of his career. He's only 32, but the way he goes on the DL frequently, signing him to a five year contract is questionable.
But Torii seemed to quickly regret his tweets, so we can forgive that.
For the Tigers to get Hunter was good, but let's not get too enthralled; he will be 38 next year, and he's coming off a career season in 2012, with a .313 average. Getting him violates my philosophy of "buy low, sell high" but hey, when you have millions of pizza money laying around, what's $26 million?
I agree that Hunter was a good pick up...I don't care how much he Tweets and/or regrets it. It's his performace on the field that tells the story. In two years we'll see what becomes of Garcia and adjust accordingly. Hamilton is a great ballplayer...but that chronic substance abuse thing is one big question mark to gamble on with big money.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's cause I live in Dallas, but I'm fascinated by the Hamilton story, and I would compare him to another tragically flawed great, Mickey Mantle.
ReplyDeleteThe Mick never hit over .300 past age 32. In fact, 1968 was pretty embarrassing, hitting .237. While he was fast as a youth, he only stole 8 bases in his last three years, probably due to his notoriously rickety knees.
The key difference between Hamilton and Mantle's addiction is that Hamilton was deep into drugs and alcohol as a youth, and has tried to stay clean and sober over the last several years. Mantle was spiraling down the toilet of alcoholism throughout his career.
I hope Hamilton succeeds
I still keep my fingers crossed that Cabrera follows the right path.
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