Milwaukee Weather
It's Not Personal, JJ, It's BusinessBy Dan O'Donnell
J.J. Hardy has always thought of himself as a team-first guy. From offseason workouts with prospects to a sacrifice bunt that snapped a 16-game hitting streak last season, he always tried to be loyal to the Brewers, even at his own expense.
Why then, he thought, didn’t his team show him the same loyalty? Why did the Brewers repay his sacrifice by sending him to the minors to “work on his swing?” Why, he asked himself time and again, weren’t they honest about their true intentions?
Under baseball’s collective bargaining agreement, a player who spends 20 consecutive days in the minors loses a year of Major League service time. The Brewers would control his rights for another season, thereby making him a more attractive commodity in the offseason trade market.
“It beat me up inside,” he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “For them to give up on me this year, it kind of hurt. I definitely feel like I was being punished."
But did the punishment fit the crime? Before he was demoted, Hardy was batting a scant .229 with 11 home runs and 45 RBI and his on-base percentage—crucial when he hit in front of Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder—hovered around .300.
Meanwhile, Alcides Escobar was tearing up AAA with a .298 average, .353 OBP, and a whopping 42 stolen bases in 109 games. From the team’s perspective, a change had to be made. Hardy wasn’t hitting and the Brewers weren’t winning. What was the harm in seeing what this Escobar kid could do?
“I think there were some good intentions,” Hardy said of the move. “But at the same time I don't think I'll ever believe 100% that I was sent down to work on my swing. I think they've always had Escobar in the back of their mind.”
"I always saw myself as a Brewer and hoped I could spend my whole career in Milwaukee. I just wish there was another way they could have done this so there wasn't such a bitter taste in my mouth."
Baseball, unfortunately, is a business and business, unfortunately is often bitter, acrimonious, and cold. The Brewers’ decision understandably had Hardy feeling all three, yet had they not demoted him, would he have shown the same loyalty he expects out of them? Had he not lost a year of service time, would he have really signed with Milwaukee immediately or would he have tested the free agent waters?
A safe bet is the latter, which is why Hardy should know as well as anyone that in baseball, it’s not personal, it’s just business. |
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