ARod and Showalter

[Craig S.]

At a Rangers' luncheon yesterday, Alex Rodriguez brought along Tommy Bolin, the clubhouse attendant whose firing led to a blowup between ARod and Buck during the offseason:

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/baseball/7899563.htm

While it's impossible to know for sure what Alex's motives were, it seems like another thing between him and his manager. Does Showalter have a chance to make it through the season, or is this some kind of foreboding?

[LargeBill]

Once the season starts A-Rod will play and play well. A-Rod doesn't have Showalter's job in his hands. That pitching staff that Hart assembled does.

[JamesI]

Once the season starts A-Rod will play and play well. A-Rod doesn't have Showalter's job in his hands. That pitching staff that Hart assembled does.
Showalter would have a better chance surviving ARod than that pitching staff.

[Skip]

It will be interesting to see how Showalter deals with having his "miracle worker" rep not work out this time. I like the guy, but he's been able to live off of the 'turnarounds' he engineered twice before for some time now. I wonder how he'll deal with not being able to get the job done this time (whether or not anyone else could with that team).

[Elmo]

It will be interesting to see how Showalter deals with having his "miracle worker" rep not work out this time. I like the guy, but he's been able to live off of the 'turnarounds' he engineered twice before for some time now. I wonder how he'll deal with not being able to get the job done this time (whether or not anyone else could with that team).


I think it's a little early to say it won't work out. They have a pretty offense and there are some pitchers in the pipeline - he's still on track to do what he does, and remember, it's not as if showalter did 15 things and then bring 2 franchises to the Series...or to hand them off essentially series ready for the next guy. He's only had 2 shots and in both cases he did just fine thank you.

Buck does have a tendency to grate on certain people. But he is professional and he knows how to build an organization. I was less worried about the attendent issue than the fact that Hart decided it wasn't worth his time to show up at the fan fest......I don't suppose we'll get Hart bad mouthing himself which is of course what he would have done if ARod hadn't shown up.

[Elmo]

At a Rangers' luncheon yesterday, Alex Rodriguez brought along Tommy Bolin, the clubhouse attendant whose firing led to a blowup between ARod and Buck during the offseason:

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/baseball/7899563.htm

While it's impossible to know for sure what Alex's motives were, it seems like another thing between him and his manager. Does Showalter have a chance to make it through the season, or is this some kind of foreboding?


Sounds like Jim Reeves is just being Jim Reeves to me. He gave a Hart a pass for missing the luncheon.

[Wolf Hopper]

I really thought A-Rod had more class than to pull a stunt like this. It's very disappointing. He wants to be Cal Ripken. Somehow, I don't see Ripken doing something like this - - and, he had a deeper axe, as it was his father who was fired.

Years, quite a few, ago, A-Rod was on QVC. He was just a kid. He wore a suit. Was polite. And, he said all the right things. My wife watched with me and was amazed that someone so young could be so together and have it all right. Somewhere, since then, A-Rod has gotten twisted, IMHO. It's a darn shame.

[Elmo]

I really thought A-Rod had more class than to pull a stunt like this. It's very disappointing. He wants to be Cal Ripken. Somehow, I don't see Ripken doing something like this - - and, he had a deeper axe, as it was his father who was fired.

Years, quite a few, ago, A-Rod was on QVC. He was just a kid. He wore a suit. Was polite. And, he said all the right things. My wife watched with me and was amazed that someone so young could be so together and have it all right. Somewhere, since then, A-Rod has gotten twisted, IMHO. It's a darn shame.


Wolfie - I'd double source that. Jamey Newburg - of the invaluable newburgreports.com (I hope I have the URL right) said in his Email newsletter of today that ARod was just fine in the banquet - no stunt visible, and Jamey has been quite critical of ARod over the trade fiasco. He also said that Showalter and ARod were fine.

[Wolf Hopper]

Why bring Bolin?

[Elmo]

Why bring Bolin?

It seems like the only person who has seen this as a big deal is Reeves - who has been wiritng poison pen columns on ARod for quite some time.

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/columnists/jim_reeves/ is a listing.

And who knows the circumstances of the guy coming? Did he bring him? All Reeves said is that he was 'part of his entoruage' whatever that means. I'm not clear even whether he was at the Diamond Club event at lunch or the convention center event in the evening which is open to the public (and he wore a suit for that ;) )

[Elmo]

Why bring Bolin?


Correction, I see Gerry Fraley brought it up too at the Morning News (although he mentioned Hart's absence more prominently than Reeves).

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/baseball/rangers/stories/020704dnspofraley_.a41af.html

[Wolf Hopper]

You have to begin to question the "down to earthness" and "non-swollen head factor" of anyone who has an entoruage or "posse" that makes appearances with them, IMHO. Wherever A-Rod lands, good luck.

[Elmo]

You have to begin to question the "down to earthness" and "non-swollen head factor" of anyone who has an entoruage or "posse" that makes appearances with them, IMHO. Wherever A-Rod lands, good luck.

I still wonder about the whole situation, Bolin wasn't fired by Showalter or Hart, rather by the clubhouse manager - evidently for mainly being a personal valet for ARod AND others, rather than working for the club. Reeves see the fact that the guy cleared the firing with Showalter and Hart as evidence that it was really Showalter (and ARod may/evidently feels that way), yet if you were the clubhouse manager and decided for perhaps legitimate reasons that ARod's (and other's) personal gopher needed to go, of course he would go to those people to clear it - I mean really, it doesn't have to be a consipiracy.

Also, as far as the question of a posse...again, I don't know the circumstances of how Bolin was there, nor whether the 'entourage' mentioned by Reeves was a posse, invited friends, or just people who for one reason or another had access to the event - which was open to the public on some level, and just happened to know ARod.

Further, I can certainly see that ARod could feel like, here is a guy whom the club pays essentially pocket change and why couldn't they accommodate ARod's wishes in the matter - I don't think that feeling would be at all unreasonable given the various special perks that are routinely given to players (and in other cases not used by journalists to make cheap points).

In the absence of any compelling evidence to the contrary, I can't condemn ARod on this one. Particularly since Hart didn't show up and he has a history of blabbing innuendo to the press without any real foundation.

[Wolf Hopper]

A-rod got Bolin the job in the 1st place: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/7282169.htm

A source close to Rodriguez said over the weekend that the Rangers' shortstop is "on the outs" with Showalter and is incensed over the recent firing of clubhouse attendant Tommy Bolin, a close friend who had landed the job before the 2002 season at Rodriguez's behest.

Note: "close friend" - - as in part of his "posse" - - bringing him to the thing, after he was fired, was a way for A-Rod to thumb his nose - - and, that's my beef. It's classless, IMHO.

Nothing to do with Buck. This is just A-Rod, to me. Like I said, if this is the way he will be, good luck to the team that lands him.

[SmedIndy]

If you have a good friend that you get hired to your company, and then he gets fired for what you think is no real good reason, won't you be mad?

And don't a lot of players have "posses" nowadays?

[Elmo]

A-rod got Bolin the job in the 1st place: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/7282169.htm



Note: "close friend" - - as in part of his "posse" - - bringing him to the thing, after he was fired, was a way for A-Rod to thumb his nose - - and, that's my beef. It's classless, IMHO.

Nothing to do with Buck. This is just A-Rod, to me. Like I said, if this is the way he will be, good luck to the team that lands him.

We're going to have to agree to disagree on this one. 'an unnamed source' for Reeves, who hates ARod, sounds like a fiction to me. Plus Reeves MO, is to take a simple fact, load it with innuendo and then pretend that if you object to the innuendo, you are contesting the fact.

We still don't know who invited him, what are the circumstances of him being there or anything of that sort....except Reeves self-serving conclusions.

Fact: Bolin was fired by the club house manager
Fact: Club House manager checked with his bosses before he terminated the star player's pet
Reeves 'Fact': Order must've come from Showalter specifically to piss off ARod.
Normal assumption: Guy wasn't doing his job, instead was running personal errands, clubhouse manager doesn't want to get fired so asks if it is OK from his bosses.

Conclusion: Reeves has newspapers to sell and is creating controversy where there is none.

Fact: Bolin was at the event
Fact: Bolin was seen in company of ARod
Reeves 'fact': part of ARod 'Posse' (not in evidence - why didn't Reeves call Bolin by the way?)
Reeves 'fact': ARod is being a selfish whiner and thumbing his nose

Normal assumption: Arod feels bad that friend, whose job he feels responsible for, is out of work and brings him to event to see if he can be found work - OR, Bolin is part of the public and hangs with his frined ARod (as you would too)
Normal assumption part II: Since the team has bad mouthed ARod to the press over the matter and his off-season phone habits, ARod decides to do a favour for his friend with the quite correct feeling that if the team is going to be a jerk, why should he worry about what the team thinks on this one. Clearly it's not an important event, otherwise Hart would be there. There's no point in worrying about Reeves, who clearly has a personal agenda and will criticize him for wearing a suit at dinner and shirtsleeves at lunch...or if that fails his haircut.