Delmon Shows Maturity
Unsurprisingly, Delmon Young found out about Gardy’s disparaging comments. Somewhat surprisingly, he took them well.
“It’s not in my hands,” he said from Santa Barbara, Calif. “If I come back, I come back. If I don’t, I don’t. I’ve enjoyed my time up there, but it’s a business, too.”Of course, everyone is aware that Delmon considers baseball a business — he famously planned to “do [his] six and bolt,” back when he was with the (Devil) Rays. But it doesn’t sound like that’s Plan A any more.
“It doesn’t bother me at all,” Young said. “It’s his decision. He writes the lineup. We just go out and play when we get the opportunity.”At this point, I think it’s safe to wonder how a 23 year old renowned for immaturity can demonstrate so much more maturity than Gardy.
Asked how much better shape he’s in now than September, he said, “way better,” adding, “I’ve got things to fix with baseball and with my body.”The words just keep getting better — again, we’re all rooting for Delmon to fix everything, both with baseball and with his body. And I, personally, am glad he’s taking the initiative to do it. I think there are plenty of guys around the league who are content to coast on athletic ability, and Delmon doesn’t seem to be one of them.
Last year, we were all excited about Delmon coming into a new environment, saying all the right things. On one level, the words played out — he didn’t have any of the personal or clubhouse problems that everyone feared; in fact, he’s been close to a model citizen. (I say “close” because Mauer sets a pretty high bar for model behavior that even Morneau doesn’t match.) On the other hand, he also didn’t bring the high level of performance that we were hoping for.
Last time, the words were about fitting in and starting anew; he did. This time around, the words are about getting in shape and improving as a baseball player; let’s see what happens. I’m inclined to trust Delmon.
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I mostly agree with you this time. I wish Delmon had shown a little more fire or an attitude of “I want to earn a starting job with the Twins,” but I’m REALLY glad he didn’t say something that he’ll regret. And it’s good to hear that he’s working out and trying to up his game.
I hope someone in the media gets a follow-up statement from Gardy so he can clarify what he meant and put all of the bloggers at ease.
Yeah, this was definitely a situation where Delmon could have said something he’d end up regretting — and validating Gardy’s apparent hatred of him.
Gardy rarely, if ever, puts bloggers at ease. And I don’t think he’ll come out with a more rational or open statement, given that he seemed pretty adamant about which players he thinks are worthy of playing.
Does Punto have dirt on Gardy?
Probably the same stuff Lew Ford had.
Maybe we should ship Punto off to Japan.
1) Further proof Gardy is an idiot. If nothing else, why show your hand and diminish trade value?
2) Nick Punto sighting:
http://croutonboy.typepad.com/photos/peopleihate/scrappy.jpg