I have not liked Alex Rodriguez since "A-Rod" publicly stated that he would not sign with any team that traded for him in his contract year with Seattle in 2000, hamstringing the Mariners, who were entertaining trade offers, in much the same way Montreal and DC's Executives would like fans to believe that the Expos and Nationals were forced to not trade Vladimir Guerrero and Alfonso Soriano because their impending free agent status ruined their value. (Yes, it all comes back to the Expos and Nationals!)
I wonder if Seattle's owners promised they would make offers when THEIR stars became free agents like the Montreal/DC owners did, and then didn't, really...I mean, Were contract offers made to Guerrero and Soriano? That's a story for another day though...
No one can blame a player for positioning themselves to have a chance at free agency where they can choose their home and accept the highest possible offer, but if it's only about the money, why not just keep your plans to yourself and afford your team the chance to get the best possible return on the time and money they had previously invested in you, and which is now allowing you to cash in...
ed- (Hopefully that's the last A-Rod rant I ever have to write. Please do not sign this man. Please. Unless you're serious about my brother Scout(Braves Fan And Source For All Things Baseball)'s plan, which he calls "Instant Credibility" and which calls for Washington signing A-Rod and Andruw Jones and taking over the NL East).
*Jamey "All The Little Things" Carroll's World Series Adventure*
Game 4. The Colorado Rockies trail the Boston Red Sox three games to zero. The Sox are looking for the sweep in Coors Field, Denver, Colorado.
Down 3-0 after six and a half innings, the Rockies rally for one run in their seventh, and end the eigth trailing 4-3 after surrendering one in the top and scoring two in the bottom of the frame before Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon comes on to close it with one out in the inning and quickly retires Ryan Spilborghs and Brad Hawpe.
Colorado closer Manny Corpas holds the Boston lead at 4-3 with a scoreless top of the ninth. The Rockies are left with three outs to keep their playoff hopes alive. Yorvit Torrealba grounds to second for the first out...
Jamey Carroll steps to the plate. Jamey "All The Little Things" Carroll...Montreal's draft pick from the 14th Round, or 400th overall, in the 1996 draft... Jamey Carroll. Who worked his way, for six years, through the Expos Minor League system, to debut on September 11, 2002, at twenty-eight years of age, and quickly became one of Montreal, Frank Robinson and DC's favorite sons, Jamey Carroll. Who did All The Little Things right at every stop along the way...(except those 17 errors in Montreal and DC, but who's counting, right?)...
...That Jamey Carroll stepped to the plate for the Colorado Rockies with one out in the bottom of the ninth of what was two outs away from becoming the clinching game four victory for Boston's second World Series this decade after 86 years of whining...
Carroll vs Papelbon...Strike one on a fastball from Papelbon... Carroll's late on the next pitch and fouls it into the first base stands...0-2 pitch, Carroll chokes up a little more, so he can catch up with the fastball inside, Carroll rips it to right, "Did He?"...Red Sox right fielder Jacoby Ellsbury tracks it, jumps at the wall and makes the grab for the second out of the ninth...Papelbon gets Seth Smith swinging and the Sox win the 2007 World Series of Baseball. Congrats Beantown...
I really thought Jamey Carroll had tied it with that shot last night, and it would have been fitting. It may sound trite, but Carroll's always played the game the right way, wherever he's played it. I bet Frank Robinson jumped out of his seat when he thought Jamey Carroll had tied it...