Running on Empty

Last year, I thought Jimmy Rollins was done after his run with the White Sox.  At age 37, the veteran infielder didn’t look to have anything left in the tank after his June release.  A .221 batting average—including an anemic .181 for the switch hitter against righties—would seem to be a sign to call it a career at 17 seasons.  But what do I know?

Another year older, Rollins is trying to catch on with the Giants as a spare infielder.  Rollins took enough time from his quest to tell USA Today columnist Bob Nightengale, “The game’s completely changed.  When I came up, there were veterans everywhere.  Teams wanted them in their clubhouse.  But now with this sabermetric and numbers part of the game, it’s about computers.  You plug in numbers, and it spits out a player.  It’s like you’re not wanted.”

Jimmy, first check your splits; a .181 average would earn Jesus Christ his release.  Second, go back in the time machine and see how many pitchers teams were carrying when you came up.  Teams nowadays start with 11-man staffs and expand them to 12 or 13 at different points in the season.  Somebody’s got to go in this brave new world of constant matchups.  Who do you think that’s going to be?  Hint: veteran part-time players, and those with low batting averages first.

But Rollins is just doing what most players do at the end of their careers, trying to hang on.  In this he’s no different than Babe Ruth, and, given Rollins’ performance over the years, he could be joining the Babe in Cooperstown someday.  What really caught my eye, though, was Rollins’ take on playing for the Sox.  “It’s the first time I’ve ever been on a team with no direction.  It was like if we win, we keep everybody.  We lose, we’re dumping everybody.”

Hey, that could be straight out of a Talking Heads’ song, “We’re on a road to nowhere….”