I always liked Orlando Hudson for one reason. He talks a lot.I talk. A lot. All the time. I don't shut up. My parents used to have to go to McDonalds and get a chocolate shake to get me to stop talking in the car when I was little. My boss today still tells me he wishes he had a volume control for me. I'm that girl who is really really intelligent (aside from my admittance to not being able to spell for crap.) but will literally be standing there and say "I want vanilla pudding. We should start buying vanilla pudding." and then be stared at like "wtf... where did that come from?"
I have ADD in my head, I swear. Orlando Hudson has always reminded me of me. If I were a baseball player, I would be Orlando Hudson personality wise.
However Hudson and my moral opinions differ extremely and over the last year or so I've become more and more annoyed with his media outbursts.
After today, I'm pretty confident I've reached my tolerance limit of crap spewing out of Hudson's mouth. I'm really ashamed of his comments about the reason why Jermaine Dye hasn't been signed to a major league contract.
Orlando says "We both know what it is. You'll get it right. You'll figure it out. I'm not gonna say it because I'll get in a lot of trouble." in context to his opinion on why Dye hasn't been resigned, he alludes to it being because Dye is black.
I can't stand that crap.
Orlando Hudson is ridiculous. There's absolutely no racist reason on why Jermaine hasn't been signed by another team.
Dye hasn't been signed because he's asking for too much money. He wants at least 1/4 of his $11.5M contract with the Sox last year. He wants a full time outfield position and has said that he "might" play 1st here and there but that he mainly wants to be in the outfield full time, and won't even considering being a 4th outfielder or DH. He has been declining in talent in both offensive and defensive categories.
Dye has been offered deals with the Nationals, Toronto, and Tampa Bay. He hasn't signed because of his pickyness of position played, salary, and wanting to play for a contender. If Dye 
wants to play, he would play. Thome wanted to keep playing and he, who is willing to play specifically to be in a rotating DH system, was willing to pick up a contract with the Twins for a $1.5M/1yr contract. Maybe Dye should stop being so picky?
wants to play, he would play. Thome wanted to keep playing and he, who is willing to play specifically to be in a rotating DH system, was willing to pick up a contract with the Twins for a $1.5M/1yr contract. Maybe Dye should stop being so picky?The history of baseball has been skewed with racism, true, but I'm someone who feels as though in this day-in-age we make our own destiny. If you hold yourself back saying "I'm not going to be able to do this because of race, age, or gender" then the only person holding you back, is you.
Major league baseball has been making ridiculous strides to appeal to the African American community, including working hard to bring baseball into inner-city neighborhoods with the RBI Program. No one can force a kid to want to play baseball. He has to play because he loves it. You can bring him a bat and a ball and a mit, but you can't make him throw or hit, no matter what color their skin is. If Orlando Hudson or anyone else is mad because of a declining number of African American's in MLB then they should be working toward bringing the spirit of the game to kids they think have talent. They should not be running their mouth off to the media making themselves look like victims because of another player's lack of contract.
If Hudson thinks that the reason the Sox didn't resign him is because of racist reasons, then maybe he should take a look at our GM and manager. We have an African American GM and a Venezuelan manager. This might be a bit of a stretch but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that racism... PROBABLY not the reason we didn't re-sign Dye.
Hudson also says that he has "a lot to say" after he retires. Awesome. If it's anything like this stretch of crap, then save it, please. I have no problem with people being opinionated but I do have a problem with ignorance.
I wish Jermaine Dye the best of luck in what's left of his major league career, and I wish Orlando Hudson would shut up.
Dye is his own worst enemy when it comes to his contract status this year. He could have made over three million playing for the Cubs and turned that down.
ReplyDeleteWith all the talk about racism in sports lately, I'm wondering what those promos were during last night's game for "African American Greek Night". That either sounds like a mistake or like the Sox are reaching out to a very tiny community of people.
Twins fan here, and I'm disappointed as well in O-Dog's comments. Dye's defense is horrible, he slumped in the 2nd half last year, and is picky about his position, playing time, and salary (possibly team as well), that's what is preventing him from having a job.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, good point about the race of Kenny Williams and Ozzie Guillen. That's the first time I heard anyone mention that.
im sick of hearing black players make dumb comments about mlb hating black players. then you have players like tori hunter saying that black latino players are "imposters" relax guys there are tons of other reasons why they are not signed
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback guys! I also am just at a loss for hearing players complain about not enough african american's in the MLB. Well... then go out and do something about it? You have millions of dollars and almost 5 months off a year aside from offseason training... go work with programs like the RBI Program. The reason there aren't a lot of black players in the MLB is because of lack of interest.
ReplyDeleteAGREED INSTEAD OF MAKING DUMB COMMENTS ABOUT THIS WHY NOT BE LIKE RYAN HOWARD, CC, AND PRINCE FIELDER AND HELP OUT WITH THE RBI PROGRAM
ReplyDeletePretty sad that Orlando Hudson made these comments....Maybe Orlando is listening a little too much to Torii Hunter's racial comments...
ReplyDeleteSince today was Jackie Robinson day, I think it is kind of appropriate that is a topic of your blog. I will say that baseball has done a poor job of attracting young black athletes to play until very recently. I would say the cost to play baseball is usually too high for kids living in urban communities. I also think Torii Hunter has made a very good point in this area when he said you can get latino players at a much smaller price than black players because of the economics of the countries they live in. Also I think he has a great point in saying that MLB has ruined Jackie Robinson day by having everyone wear #42 but that is another story.
ReplyDeleteHere however there is no factual base for Hudsons comments. Dye has always been a prima donna when it has come to contracts and his abilities. He is certainly a solid player and like the blog states probably a 4th outfielder/DH and he is asking for too much money for either of those.
Well done, btw. That is all.
Great post! Comments like these can be so frusturating so much that I almost get more annoyed when I try to argue against them, so I'm glad you did haha.
ReplyDeleteProblem with Hunter's comments is that Latino players are getting big contracts....Didn't Chapman sign for the Reds for $30 million out of Cuba????
ReplyDeleteHow about cash strapped Oakland...Yep, the A's gave a 16 year old from the Dominican Republic (Michael Inoa) four million dollars not too long ago...
and the reason Dye is not playing is because he is beyond awful playing defense...If he wants to consider being a DH then he has a much better chance of signing with another club