Cleef said:
I agree, Venezuela is the hot thing, but not the mainstream just yet.
Tone, you have to admit that he's grandstanding, trying to be part of the 'in' club right now. You lofted a meatball with Ramirez and Pujols; these guys get it. They don't have to speak out on what country they play for or where their loyalty stands, it's obvious.
Arods' running around with his hair on fire screaming "I'm dominican, I'm dominican, everyone love me too!"
I just think it's childish, like that fairy-slap he threw onto Arroyo in the playoffs. Where I come from we call that 'bush-league' and he's as bush as they come.
Mark this down, the best thing to happen to his (modern) career is Tino Martinez coming back to the Yanks. Class act, close friends with Arod and everyone else. He's already made a huge difference in the clubhouse void between MeRod and the Yanks.
Lastly (sancochojoey), Manny and Pujols are winners, can we now see the difference?
People seem to have a lot of hate for ARod because he was fortunate and gifted enough to be offered $252 million. He's the best position player in the game. That's the bottom-line.
Dominicans are acting like they are related to him by blood, and he's entitled to give them 1/2 of his $252 million. Anything less, and he's the anti-Christ. What the hell did he ever do to deserve this kind of treatment? Crazily enough, I'm not even an ARod fan, but he deserves the same playing field as everybody else.
Now he's grand-standing??? When in the hell did he EVER previously say that he wasn't Dominican? So why is it a big deal that he's playing for the DR? How is it grand-standing?
During the All-Star break, MLB concocted this world baseball celebration thing. I'm sure when the media questions came around to ARod, he just answered as the article states. Is that grandstanding? You're acting like he called his own press conference to announce this. By the way, Venezuela went on to beat the DR in the "world" HR derby. What backwagon did ARod jump on?
Re: Pujols and Manny. Under your reasoning, they are both losers in their own right as well.
Pujols, although very talented and well-mannered, has won just as much as ARod, absolutely nothing. Also, he is definitely not a product of the Dominican system either. He is as Dominican as ARod.
Manny, also very talented but aloof, just won for the 1st time in his career, and you know it wouldn't have happened without David Ortiz. Keep it real. Remember he was in Cleveland and spent several years in Boston without a title.
On top of that, wasn't Manny being mentioned as a Dominican York as recent as last season? Do a site search where you'll see several Dominicans did not even consider him a "true" Dominican. Now that he's won a WS is he a full-blooded Dominican? My God, the hypocrisy.
Maybe ARod, Pujols, and Manny should just play for the USA, since their true "Dominican-ness" is so suspect. Now that would cause an uproar amongst American ballplayers, and would be the just slap in the face for those holier-than-thou "I'm more Dominican than the next guy" Dominicans.
You should be happy that multi-millionaire mega-stars would risk their career (remember that this crap is being played during spring training) to represent the DR (a small shared island) on a world stage.
I really could care less either way, since baseball lost its luster with me over the past few years.