We have all been bombarded with the recent steroid scandal and that has been stealing the headlines. But one thing that is hardly getting a radar blip is the useless carpetbaggers who are leeching their once great talents in baseball.
Since most of us are not professional baseball players, we can equate it with the office. We all know them or know someone who works with one. A talentless staffer who comes in late, leaves early, complains about everything and keeps getting raises and promotions. In sports, the media should be central about broadcasting these stories. Often times, it just sits there listless.
To segue, this is what kicked off the lead two paragraphs and the theme for this post...
I had the rare opportunity to take a day off this past Friday (though I still had to take a conference call) and during the afternoon, flipped on SNY -- they were playing a Mets game from 2000. How do I know? Well, I saw the subject of this blog pitching. The very detestable Mike Hampton.
Here's a guy who came to the Mets for one season, then had a hissy-fit and left. Each place he goes, he just becomes more brittle. Check this article: http://www.macon.com/sports/columnists/story/314997.html
The author, Jay Adams of the Macon.com really sums it up:
Hampton represents a huge question mark in an otherwise strong rotation. While he had a good spring, he hasn't pitched a regular-season game in nearly three years. That was supposed to change Thursday night.
But as Hampton was warming up for what looked like a start that would silence a lot of doubters, the improbable - or, perhaps, the obvious - happened: He caught the injury bug, again.
Hampton strained a pectoral muscle close to game time while throwing in the bullpen and was subsequently scratched from the lineup and placed on the 15-day disabled list.
The injury doesn't look too serious, but the concerns it raises are.
And, if you really want to get sick, look at his salaries (this is gleaned from the year before he played with the Mets until now:
1999 Houston Astros -$4,125,000
2000 New York Mets - $5,750,000
2001 Colorado Rockies - $10,500,000
2002 Colorado Rockies - $9,503,543
2003 Atlanta Braves - $13,625,000
2004 Atlanta Braves - $14,625,000
2005 Atlanta Braves - $15,125,000
2006 Atlanta Braves - $14,503,543
2007 Atlanta Braves - $14,500,000 (this was tied as the fourth highest salary in the NL behind Todd Helton, Jason Schmidt, Barry Bonds, Lance Berkman/Carlos Delgado)
Career (may be incomplete) - $106,575,086
I honestly do not like what Mike Hampton is doing to baseball. That money can be better spent. For starters, he should donate his salary to a charity and then give a portion to Baseball Assistance Team to help retired players who worked harder through serious injuries for salaries way under 100k.
To quote Jay Adams article... At what point does The Great Mike Hampton Experiment start to hurt the team? My reply to that: "The answer is it already has."
There is another player across town that embodies the Mike Hampton syndrome - His name is Carl Pavano. I will let some other blogger who is passionate about the Yankees blog about that fiasco.
Wearing the Mets uniform is sacred. What Hampton has done to the Mets uniform, despite his being named as NLCS MVP in 2000, is deplorable. Leave baseball now. Make the fans and some minor leaguer who deserves a roster spot happy.
Since most of us are not professional baseball players, we can equate it with the office. We all know them or know someone who works with one. A talentless staffer who comes in late, leaves early, complains about everything and keeps getting raises and promotions. In sports, the media should be central about broadcasting these stories. Often times, it just sits there listless.
To segue, this is what kicked off the lead two paragraphs and the theme for this post...
I had the rare opportunity to take a day off this past Friday (though I still had to take a conference call) and during the afternoon, flipped on SNY -- they were playing a Mets game from 2000. How do I know? Well, I saw the subject of this blog pitching. The very detestable Mike Hampton.
Here's a guy who came to the Mets for one season, then had a hissy-fit and left. Each place he goes, he just becomes more brittle. Check this article: http://www.macon.com/sports/columnists/story/314997.html
The author, Jay Adams of the Macon.com really sums it up:
Hampton represents a huge question mark in an otherwise strong rotation. While he had a good spring, he hasn't pitched a regular-season game in nearly three years. That was supposed to change Thursday night.
But as Hampton was warming up for what looked like a start that would silence a lot of doubters, the improbable - or, perhaps, the obvious - happened: He caught the injury bug, again.
Hampton strained a pectoral muscle close to game time while throwing in the bullpen and was subsequently scratched from the lineup and placed on the 15-day disabled list.
The injury doesn't look too serious, but the concerns it raises are.
And, if you really want to get sick, look at his salaries (this is gleaned from the year before he played with the Mets until now:
1999 Houston Astros -$4,125,000
2000 New York Mets - $5,750,000
2001 Colorado Rockies - $10,500,000
2002 Colorado Rockies - $9,503,543
2003 Atlanta Braves - $13,625,000
2004 Atlanta Braves - $14,625,000
2005 Atlanta Braves - $15,125,000
2006 Atlanta Braves - $14,503,543
2007 Atlanta Braves - $14,500,000 (this was tied as the fourth highest salary in the NL behind Todd Helton, Jason Schmidt, Barry Bonds, Lance Berkman/Carlos Delgado)
Career (may be incomplete) - $106,575,086
I honestly do not like what Mike Hampton is doing to baseball. That money can be better spent. For starters, he should donate his salary to a charity and then give a portion to Baseball Assistance Team to help retired players who worked harder through serious injuries for salaries way under 100k.
To quote Jay Adams article... At what point does The Great Mike Hampton Experiment start to hurt the team? My reply to that: "The answer is it already has."
There is another player across town that embodies the Mike Hampton syndrome - His name is Carl Pavano. I will let some other blogger who is passionate about the Yankees blog about that fiasco.
Wearing the Mets uniform is sacred. What Hampton has done to the Mets uniform, despite his being named as NLCS MVP in 2000, is deplorable. Leave baseball now. Make the fans and some minor leaguer who deserves a roster spot happy.
