Irony
If we were in a city with some real baseball writers -- say, Boston, New York, even Chicago -- the sort of whining that takes place in this column would never take place, because the overpriced players doing it would just be crucified in the press.
I do have some sympathy for the notion, of course, that Drayton McLane is a shortsighted, cheap owner whose spendthrift ways will never bring a championship to Houston.
It's highly ironic that Billy Wagner is bitching and moaning, though, since he is the third highest player on the team, at $8 million this year. For someone who's not even an everyday player, that's exorbitant for a team with payroll limitations -- especially when the rest of the bullpen hasn't been good enough even to get him in many save situations this year.
And the Chron writer just can't resist letting us know that the second highest paid (and underachieving) player on the team, Craig Biggio, is having "a difficult season, especially in coping with the death of a close friend, Monsignor James Jamail." I would think with 8.75 million bucks at his disposal, he could hire a staff of personal grief counselors! Whatever it takes to raise those sagging averages. Hell, maybe even Drayton could donate from the great $6 beer ripoff fund!
And finally, the highest-paid (and underachieving) player on the team, Jeff Bagwell, is "struggling with a sore shoulder that sources indicate is worse than he's willing to admit publicly..." Except that it just keeps showing up in print, almost every day. If you're hurt, go on the DL. Otherwise, quit whining to reporters "privately," shut up, and play.
The countdown to football season continues.
(Update) Here's another reference to Bagwell's shoulder, in the same edition of the Chron but from a different writer: "Bagwell should be commended for playing with an aching shoulder he won't discuss." Actually, no -- if Bagwell can't perform with his injury, someone on the team (Williams or Hunsicker) needs to sit his ass down and get someone in the lineup who CAN perform. If Bagwell insists he can play, then the off-the-record comments to reporters (who "discuss" the problem for him) should stop, and he should play. But the daily (and sometimes multiple daily) references to the injury in the paper begin to take on the appearance of excuse-making, especially the way every writer insists that Bagwell didn't tell them he's hurting. (Questions: who did, and to what end?)
[Posted at 00:43 CST on 06/30/02] [Link]
