There’s not a whole lot is going on around here and all is quiet on the reservation (everywhere else, though, absolute bananas), as the Indians watched Joe Smith and Scott Kazmir leave for the west coast over the past few days. One of these players, however, issued a challenge to his former team as he packed his bags for Orange County.

Oftentimes when a player leaves one team for another, it seems to be thought of as a free pass to allow ego to take the wheel and denigrate the former organization. The anger overflows; hurt because of the simple fact that said player was comfortable, maybe even beloved by the infinite multitudes in the stands. Maybe there’s a feeling of disloyalty in a climate that is not beholden to any level of it, but whatever the case, the player uses his new surroundings as a pedestal to unburden the residual anger in which every hex ever conceived with or without a Voodoo doll would be uttered out loud to make it known how the previous organization would rue the day and lives from this day forth will be forever cursed.

Basically, professional athletes can be the whiniest crybabies who may freak without warning because they lost their binky. If they don’t get their way, look out.

And then there are also those times when the move just makes sense for all of the usual practical reasons, and the mutual respect between organization and player allows the parting to be disappointing, but sensible. And for Joe Smith, even though he’s “The Enemy” now, he wants the Tribe–and specifically, his Mafia brethren–to continue to build on the good things they have going on here.

A classy exit, complete with sensible reasons for doing so, makes it easier to accept a loss of a steady hand on this team. Hopefully somebody heeds his advice. And takes him deep a time or two.

2 Comments

  • Swift says:

    In baseball, as in the rest of life, some people are classy, and some people are not.

  • Sean Porter says:

    You pretty much nailed it, it made sense for Smith and the Indians to part. The Tribe isn’t going to pay a 7th inning setup man $5 mill a year for 3 years (totally understandable), yet I can’t fault Smith for jumping at the chance to take that contract and to be closer to his fiancee Allie LaForce, who now works in Los Angeles. (Totally off topic: To be honest, Allie LaForce might be able to convince me to do some really, really dumb things, but I digress…)

    He’s definitely a guy I hope does well, he was very good with the Tribe and a class act.

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