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Originally Posted by Elphaba
Pan, no offense, but Seattle is *really* glad you have him.  |
It's funny you should say that, for years Seattle bragged about JR. then the season he was going to be a FA he gets quoted as saying, "I'm not a team leader" and Seattle starts ripping him. They did the same with Johnson. A-Rod only had to accept that 1/2 BILLION DOLLAR contract to prove what an ass he is.
And I'm 100% sure if at the time Seattle had had a chance to resign JR they wouldn't have said anything and the glowing press would have been brighter than ever.
I'm sorry I don't get into the bad press in a players contract year. Plus, JR was younger and probably full of himself being treated as the "Greatest ever" at the time, deservedly or not.
Cleveland ripped Thome (a very legit nice guy) and Manny (eccentric, doesn't know the value of money and is another pure talent guy) and even Omar in their last years (and it's a stretch to rip a classy person such as Omar.)
Ripping is a teams way of trying to make excuses for letting the player go for more money than they can afford. I think teams tried to be glowing of players but it always helped the player get more money elsewhere, so now rip them unless you are 100% sure they will come back.
The fact he took less money and REFUSED to negotiate with anyone else but CINCY, proved to me he was true to himself.
JR has natural talent, probably more so than any other player in our lifetime, and as such as a kid in Seattle he probably didn't have to work out as hard and got away with "star" things, but the injuries and age and having been with Barry Larkin probably taught him a few things and humbled him.