Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
The Los Angeles Angels signed outfielder Josh Hamilton to a five-year $125 million deal in 2012 and after two rough seasons in California, the Angels have traded Hamilton back to his previous team, the Texas Rangers. The deal makes entirely no sense and makes the Angels organization look ignorant and heartless for punishing a guy for being an addict and relapsing.
They knew of his struggles before having him sign an enormous contract. The entire ownership and front office are going to wear this egg on their face for years to come.
Hamilton admitted to MLB, back in the offseason, that he had a relapse with cocaine. He never tested positive for the drug, instead, he owned up to his mistake and told the truth. At that point, Angels owner, Arte Moreno, wanted to void Hamilton’s contract immediately in any way possible. The dispute went to an arbitrator who found that there were no grounds that warranted the Angels canceling Hamilton’s contract.
Hamilton, again, never tested positive, there was no language in his contract that said if he relapsed his contract would be void, so, essentially, there was nothing that Moreno and the Angels could do about Hamilton and his contract.
Frustrated by the ruling of the arbitrator, the Angels were so desperate to rid themselves of Hamilton from their organization, that they were looking for different ways to dispose of him. Instead of trying to work out a deal that made sense for their organization, the Angels agreed to trade Hamilton to the Rangers in exchange for a player to be named later or cash on Monday afternoon. To top the whole situation off, the Angels are paying $118 million of the $125 million contract in order to get Hamilton out the door.
The Angels should be ashamed of how they handled things. The team was aware of Hamilton’s addiction issues and that there would be a possibility that he could relapse at any time. Instead of showing support for their player and standing in his corner in a fight for his life, the Angels were more worried about washing their hands of the mistake that they made by giving Hamilton that egregious amount of money.
If I were a player, I would think long and hard about playing for an organization that treats their players in this way. Hamilton’s teammate, C.J. Wilson, was right when he said it would be a different situation if Hamilton had averaged 35 home runs and 100 RBIs the past two seasons instead of struggling.
The Angels would have done everything they could to get him the help he needed in order to keep him. That’s a horrific double standard and shows every other player in MLB that the Angels could care less about a player as a human being, unless they can produce on the baseball diamond.
I pray that Josh Hamilton is able to win this fight with addiction and is able to get his life back on track. His health is the most important part of this entire situation. At the same time, I hope, when he returns to the field, he becomes the Josh Hamilton of three years ago and somehow, someway knocks the Angels out of the playoffs. The Angels need to be taught a lesson for not treating the player or the situation properly and I hope Hamilton sticks it to them.
Moreno should be required to take addiction and sensitivity classes so that he can understand better what Hamilton is going through. If he doesn’t understand the struggles of addiction, then maybe next time he should do his homework before signing someone with well-known addiction issues. Arte Moreno should be ashamed of his actions.
