The Devil Goes Down to Durham
When Bill Evers was reassigned to the D-Rays, people worried that it might get dull in Durham. After all, how do you top Evers' winning ways?
Certainly not on the field, where the Devil Rays continue to struggle. No, the Durham Bulls notariety this season seems well tailored for the ESPN police blotter.
Earlier this season Delmon Young blew a gasket and flung a bat at one of the rent-an-umps, and BJ Upton chewed him out for it (See "Devil Ray," MLN SportsZone).
Now it's Delmon's turn to say I told you so.
Upton, according to the Herald-Sun, was tagged by police in Chapel Hill for driving 51 mph in a 30 zone. If that wasn't bad enough, they topped off the parade of offenses with a DWI charge. According to police as quoted in the same report, Upton's breathalyzer test registered a .11 blood alcohol level, well above the .08 limit.
BJ is a Triple-A all-star, the No. 2 pick in the MLB June 2002 draft, the MLN FAB50 2004 No. 1 pick and the MLN FAB50 2005 No. 3 pick behind teammate Delmon Young (2005 No. 2) .
BJ's given name is Melvin. He goes by BJ, which is short for "the Big Man Jr." after his father Emanuel Upton, an ACC basketball official. He unfortunately has lived up to that monicker, acting like the big man for his draft and his Baseball America beauty contest rankings, but never really delivering on the field at quite the level of talent that the BA Touts had him pegged as being. Chalk that up to experience, I guess. Not every top pick pans out.
The problem for the D-Rays is that both Delmon and BJ have cost them a lot of money, paid out for that potential. The hope is that somehow the stink of their minor league troubles won't rub off on them, and that they will either be able to come up, or be dealt to another club for some reasonable value.
You feel bad for the D-Rays a bit. They get a couple of diamonds only to find out that they're just high quality cubic Zirconia. They may have the big league bats, but they lack the character that should be a requirement to advance to the big leagues.
We don't do police blotter stuff. We'll leave that for the talk radio spin merchants to rant about. We look at it from a slightly different take: On a larger level, should you promote guys like BJ and Delmon to the major leagues?
On a talent level, a strong case can be made for Young. A fading case can be made for BJ. The 'Big Man Jr." was cornered by the cops in his 2007 Mercedes Sedan.
Could it be, just maybe, that Major League Baseball is paying just a bit too much for promise? Could it also be that all that money affects players development and training, failing to generate Major League players. Sure, from an athletic perspective, Delmon may make the numbers to earn himself a call up to Tampa, and he can put on that uniform and hang with the club.
Baseball players are always more than that. When Ted Williams came up, the rookie got sent down to the farm for a few weeks for an attitude adjustment that said, no matter how good you are, and we know you're that good, there are rules to be followed when joining the club. Williams was always outspoken, a renegade in his time, hated by the Boston Press as much as they admired his ability, but never on the grounds of his soiling the game with a DWI or physically abusing an official on the field.
Players are stewards of the Game. Before the shame of steroids, they were role models for generations of children.
We have a lot of players in the minor leagues with both the character and the talent to rebuild baseball's now seedy, rather tattered reputation. Do we really need to reward guys who do physical violence to officials? Should we praise guys who are dumb enough not only to risk the lives of other motorists and pedestrians along with their own, but who, by their "big league" attitude that nothing will stick to them, also thumb their nose at the game that they play, and the fans who pay good money to park their butts in those high-end rides?
Baseball is healthy, here at the minor league level. Highly competitive, filled with young men of great talent and great character. What is it going to take for Major League Baseball to pull its head out of the sand and start looking at why baseball in the minors keeps growing, and why so many MLB venues struggle.
"We don't make the right choices sometimes, and that's just one of them," said John Tamargo, skipper of the Bulls, to the Herald upon Upton's arrest. "It's tough. He's a great kid, and in his heart, I know he's really remorseful about this and wants to get this thing behind him and continue to be the quality person that he is."
Until the Bad Boy Bulls clean up their act and really go out of their way to show this supposed quality, they should spend the rest of their careers on the farm, if only as a scarecrow for future bad boys... Don't come this way: It has serious consequences.
The Devil Rays will slap them on the wrist. Bud Light will cluck sadly for a few talking heads that bother to ask, if any ask at all.
That's the Bull in Durham.
- Brian Ross
Brian Ross
MAJOR BLOGS - 09.10.06 - The baseball guillotine fell yesterday as Durham Bulls Manager John Tamargo, Pitching Coach Joe Coleman, Hitting Coach Richie Hebner and Trainer Tom Tisdale (See: "Did Bad Boy Bulls Derail Durham Coaching Staff?" MLN - The Raw Feed, Saturday, September 9, 2006) all lost their heads and their jobs when the Tampa Bay Devil Rays cleaned house in Durham.
It's been a tough year in what is normally rock-solid Durham. Absent Bill Evers, pet problem children Delmon Young and B.J. Upton were the headliners in an all-star cast of Baseball Survivor where every man was out for themselves, and everything from assault and battery on the field to racially charged remarks in the clubhouse appeared to infect the club.
One could argue that, if you're the skipper of a ship that was aimed at Tampa Bay and somehow ended up in Hell, that might be an appropriate end to your tenure.
Or, you could equally make the case that if you have a crew of pirates and brigands, if you were headed for Tampa Bay and ended up in Barbados, that's just where the winds and fortune carried you.
Tampa Bay stocked the ship with the crew. No one there wants to take any personal accountability for the mess of spoiled superstars that has become the Durham clubhouse, so the easiest remedy is "off with their heads."
The sad part is that hitting coach Hebner has been a great minor league manager. Sweeping the decks of the HMS Durham is bull... The captain goes down with the ship, so Tamargo is an unfortunate fatality, but the organization has talent that can heal and fix problems now are gone.
Steve Irwin is not the only one fatally stung by a ray this month. Durham Bulls fans are going to have to watch what changes this move brings. Unless they bring back Evers, which would have been a smart PR move rather than making the coaching staff walk the plank, or someone of Evers stature, then the problems remain with the D-Rays picks, and not with the management of them. Durham goes from being a championship organization run by exceptional coaches to being just another club putting their fortunes for 2007 together from scratch.
Of course, as in all political executions, the last laugh is on those with their hand on the rope. The Bad Boy Bulls are moving on from Durham to Tampa Bay. Does anyone really believe that playing in the vacuum that exists on the high pedestals of the major league will actually make Delmon Young's temper more controlled? BJ Upton more consistent?
Devil Rays may take on a whole new meaning in Tampa.
Post a Comment
View Printer Friendly Version
Email Article to Friend
Reader Comments