Friday, December 10, 2004
Hypocrites
What do Daryl Strawberry, Steve Howe, Dwight Gooden, Gary Sheffield, and Jason Giambi have in common? They are all players who have played for the Yankees, who admittedly messed up big time with chemicals.
But while the first three were players who were given second (or seventh) chances by the Yankees, the big talk is about whether the Yankees will be able to void Jason Giambi's contract. Why not void Gary Sheffield's contract then too - is it because the Yankees are naive enough to believe that he didn't know what he was putting into his body? And what happened to giving players a second chance, particularly if they have admitted their drug abuse?
The difference is that unlike the other four players, Giambi is of no use to them any more. He is a shell of a man, who is tremendously overpaid. This has nothing to do with the purity of the game, the Yankee reputation, or the morality of it all. It comes down to money and performance and nothing else. With past decisions on troubled players in mind, the stated rationale for trying to get rid of Giambi is a sham:
But while the first three were players who were given second (or seventh) chances by the Yankees, the big talk is about whether the Yankees will be able to void Jason Giambi's contract. Why not void Gary Sheffield's contract then too - is it because the Yankees are naive enough to believe that he didn't know what he was putting into his body? And what happened to giving players a second chance, particularly if they have admitted their drug abuse?
The difference is that unlike the other four players, Giambi is of no use to them any more. He is a shell of a man, who is tremendously overpaid. This has nothing to do with the purity of the game, the Yankee reputation, or the morality of it all. It comes down to money and performance and nothing else. With past decisions on troubled players in mind, the stated rationale for trying to get rid of Giambi is a sham:
The Yankees are basing their plan of attack on Paragraph 7 (1) of the uniform player's contract, which says that a club may terminate a contract if the player should "fail, refuse or neglect to conform his personal conduct to the standards of good citizenship and good sportsmanship,"I will admit, if he was on the Red Sox I'd be praying that they could get rid of him. But don't lie to us about the reasons.
# posted by Darlucky @ 2:57 PM 
