When Players Leave Your Favorite Team [merged threads]

[Golden Bear]

Yeah, he must be.

[gyb13]

he's got 17 seasons to edgar's 16 and biggio's 15, though Biggio has played the most games (2100 x lark's 1999).

another question: in today's era, is it worse to trade your most popular player or to let him go via free agency?

Trade
+ team may get something valuable in return
- it may seem the team took the initiative in cutting him loose

Free Agency
+ team can claim they tried to keep him
- little or no compensation

[JamesI]

Well. Usually nothing good. I remember the dreck the Orioles got for Eddie Murray.

[TGwynn19]

I made a comment in a thread in the ATM reports that I could get behind Woody Williams for the NL CY Young. GYB13 pointed out to me that Woody left the Padres 2 years ago. Is it just me or do any of you follow, and more importantly, want to see ex-players do well?

[LeGrandOrange]

Of course. Even if they end up as Yankees, I'm a fan of all former Mariners and hope they do well. I don't follow them super-closely but it's not required.

[KCBOOMER]

Only when he is not playing my team.

[RedSeat]

Depends on how they went out the door. If I liked a player and he gets traded without much fuss, then yes I tend to root for him. But free agents losses or forced trades due to impending free agency? Or even someone who sounds off after being traded? I want to see them fail.

A third category would be the players who don't return for performance reasons. It would kill me to see Clark and Hermanson do well this year for $300K and $900K respectively after getting nothing out of them for $5M each last year.

[Skip]

Between free agency, fantasy ball, and other factors, there are surely a lot of people who follow players moreso than they do teams. Sometimes that leads to cheering for that player's team.

Last year, especially once the Reds were toast, I became effectively a Giants fan, not due to any love for the Giants, but because they were the team of Bonds. The player was the primary factor, not the team, and once Bonds is gone or fades, I dont expect to have any residual Giants loyalty.

So ... yeah, there are players I follow and cheer for, some just because they are good or somehow otherwise resonate with me, others because they were 'mine' through being on 'my' team. I always felt this way about Eric the Red, for instance, regardless of where he played.

Great question TGwynn.

[Gosfgiants]

Depends on the player. If they are good citizen while they are my team I wish them well with their team (i.e. Ellis Burkes). If they are jerk while on my team I do not want to see them suceed (i.e. Jeff Kent, despite his hitting he constantly belly-ached while here, and bad-mouthed the team after he left). Any player that ends up from my team on the Dodgers I wish the worst.

[Skip]

Originally posted by Gosfgiants
Any player that ends up from my team on the Dodgers I wish the worst.

Good point. Any player who goes to the Dodgers forfeits all of my allegiance as well. Guess the anytime-Giants and 70s-Reds fans have this much in common.

Same applies to NYY - Red Sox, and others as well, I am sure.

[satchel]

Great question.

I used to read a Yankee fan board, and the reaction there when David Cone signed with the Red Sox was so intense you'd think he'd been selling bombs to the commies. He was a traitor, a greedy bastard, an ungrateful @$$hole, a thief, you name it. The sentiment wasn't uniform, but it was vocally expressed by some. It mystified me.

When I like a player, I want him to do well, regardless of what uniform he wears, even if he's on my team's most hated rival.

[JamesI]

With me it depends on a lot of things.

I didn't hold a grudge against Palmeiro for going to Texas since he was returning to his home (and even took less money to do it).

Mike Mussina was agrivating, since he jumped to a divisional rival. But unlike most Orioles fans I know, I still cheer for Moose (except against Baltimore)

But usually I try to continue to follow players who I liked when they were Orioles and I'll ignore the future careers of those I didn't like.

[Ytown Tribe fan]

Depends on the player, the team he's with now and how he left.

It's hard not to pull for Thome, who's always been a good guy, but I don't. The only good thing I can say about the Phillies is they're finally giving their fans something to root for.

On the other hand, I'm still pulling for Robby, who left unwillingly, even though I could care less about the Mets.

[gyb13]

i think it depends. looking at the players that left the yanks after last yr:

Rondell White, Shane Spencer, John VanderWal, Ron Coomer, Chris Widger, Alberto Castillo, Ice Williams, Alex Arias, Karim Garcia, Ted Lilly, Mike Stanton, Ramiro Mendoza...

none i really cared for in the first place and none that i'll miss... but i will follow lilly's progress closely, as i hope he doesn't come back to haunt us

[satchel]

The Yankees haven't lost stars to another team so it's quite a different question than that of Mussina, Alomar, Thome, A-Rod, etc.

Try to imagine how you would feel if Bernie Williams had signed with the Red Sox after the '98 season, as there was talk of him doing. That would have broken my heart; he was and is my favorite player. I wouldn't have viewed him as a traitor (see my post above about Cone) and I wouldn't have hated him for it, but it would have been hard to root for him indeed.

Of the Yankees players you listed, I'll miss Lilly and Stanton the most. Lilly now pitches for my other team, so it's a pleasure for me to follow his career and root for him. Stanton is a bulldog of a reliever and I only wish for his sake that he wasn't on such a sucky team because he's played for a bunch of very good teams in his career.