I Really Hope This Isn't The End Of The Road For Josh Hamilton Now That He's Been Released
Some people feel no sympathy at all towards addicts.
If that’s how you feel, I’m sure you have your reasons. There’s no right or wrong way on how anyone should feel about addiction. That’s up to you, how you feel, and how your experiences have shaped the way you feel. If you’ve never experienced what it’s like to witness someone you care about become an addict, then consider yourself lucky. It’s the absolute definition of hell. Where do I stand? Somewhere in the middle. I do sympathize with addicts who can’t control their addictions, but I also stick to the line of thinking that at some point in their life, they made the decision to try whatever it is that they’re addicted to, assuming it wasn’t something that was prescribed to them. For that, I lack sympathy.
I know plenty of addicts. For some, you could see that lifestyle coming from a mile away. Others, it’s like, where the fuck did you go wrong? I’m sure the people who knew Josh Hamilton from his earlier days had a similar reaction when it became public knowledge that he was a user and an alcoholic. If you’re interested at all, his book Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back is one of the best books I’ve ever read. Having read Hamilton’s story from beginning to end, having known what it was that he went through, not only get to the major leagues, but also to go on and fulfill his destiny of becoming a superstar, it makes it that much more disappointing to see where his career is at now.
Yesterday, the Texas Rangers released the 35-year-old outfielder, who hasn’t played a game in 2016. Hamilton went under the knife this past June to repair his left knee, which had landed him on the disabled list almost a year ago today. Per HBT, Hamilton is owed $30 million next year, and the Angels are picking up $26.41 million of that. That’ll go down as one of the worst contracts of all-time, if not the worst. Since Hamilton signed that five-year, $125 million contract with the Angels in December of 2012, he averaged 97 games a year over the three seasons that he could actually take the field from 2013 through 2015, and hit .255 with a .740 OPS.
From the start of the 2013 season until the end of the 2015 season, 292 players played at least 290 games, which is the exact number of games that Hamilton played. Hamilton ranked 181st in batting average, 200th in on-base percentage (.312), 104th in slugging percentage (.428), 132nd in OPS (.740), and 267th in strikeout percentage (26.5%). What I’m trying to say is that he wasn’t very good after he left Texas. If he had stayed there, would things have been different? Possibly, but I’m not sure they’d be drastically different. The guy’s 35, but he’s an old 35 because of what he’s done to his own body, both on and off the field. I mean, take one look at his disabled list log, and you get a pretty good idea of what his body has been through.
I hope he gets another shot. I really do. And it seems like the Rangers want that, too. Here’s how Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News explains the Rangers’ logic behind releasing Hamilton before the start of next month.
By releasing him before Sept. 1, the Rangers can re-sign him to a minor league contract and have him in the majors before May 15 of next season. If they released him after Sept. 1, they would be prohibited from bringing him to the majors before May 15.
It sounds like a return to Texas is part of the plan, although I think we’ve likely seen the end of the days when Hamilton played about 150 games a year. But even if his days as an everyday player are over, the alternative is still much better than just being released, never to put on a major league uniform again. His story deserves a better ending than that.