Congratulations! and I Apologize

I’ve tried to maintain a balance among being respectful, being true to myself, and being interesting/entertaining in my writings. To do that, I try to avoid insulting or mocking players as people, as opposed to criticizing their performance. It’s the difference between writing that player A hasn’t hit very well and needs to improve to make the major leagues, and writing that player A has no business playing professional baseball. I’m in no position to tell anyone that he shouldn’t follow his dream, nor certainly that he should give up his job to let someone else have hit.

Early in this blog’s history, I wrote an article about two players who I felt had interesting International League histories. Looking back at it again, I feel that I was too demeaning toward them. My point in writing about Jorge Velandia and Wes Timmons was not — or should not have been — to insult them or laugh at them. I wanted to share that I had noticed that Velandia and Timmons had been around the league a long time, and I could have done so without the not-so-subtle sarcasm.

Wes Timmons is on the verge of making the Oakland Athletics out of spring training; he’s going to accompany them on their road trip to Japan. I’m happy that he’ll be rewarded for his years in the minor leagues. I’m also sorry for all the times I’ve made him the butt of cheap jokes with my IL friends. He’s gotten the last laugh on me.