Josh Hamilton has had a pretty checkered past, from his long battle with drug addiction to his humbling tale of redemption in which he won an MVP award.
The Texas Rangers are boasting the best record in the American League West currently sitting pretty at 63-44 ahead of their rival Angels. Hamilton is in search of a big contract that will keep him in Texas for the duration of his career, but right now it’s easier said than done. We’ve already reported Josh Hamilton’s battle to be ‘obedient to God’ by giving up chewing tobacco to improve his performance at the plate, but his cryptic religious quotes blaming chewing tobacco may be giving teams in pursuit of him, including his own Texas Rangers, giant red flags.
According to the Fort Worth Telegram Josh was quoted as saying “When the time is right, I’ll be honest with you, you’ll be right in the loop,”
He stated that right before launching into his whole ‘disobedience to God’ spiel, which was even more puzzling. With someone like Hamilton whose personal demons played out in the public eye everything is up for interpretation, especially when you consider the reports of his marriage falling apart. Hamilton is growing somewhat of a reputation for strange excuses when probed about any slump that he falls in. Just last season when questioned about his exceedingly poor numbers during day (.122 batting average) games Hamilton attributed his lackluster daytime stats to the fact that his blue eyes are more sensitive to light. Righttttt
But what’s always been a refreshing aspect to Hamilton is his brutal honesty, which could ultimately end up biting him in the butt. Hamilton revealed that he had a drinking relapse in February after photos circulated with him holding an alcoholic beverage, that alone would make teams everywhere wonder just how committed is he to staying clean. From the tobacco excuse, to blue eyed blues and a publicized relapse Josh Hamilton could be little by little shooting the future of his career in the foot.
Hamilton has just 3 seasons in which he’s played 100 plus games. There’s just something about the mix of former hard core drug usage and propensity for the injury bugs that makes scouts and GM’s alike head straight for the hills. Even Hamilton in all his Mantle-esque talent (as many have compared him to) is not guaranteed a big pay day that we’ve seen given to the likes of Pujols, A-Rod and Fielder. For a guy like him who sat out four years and went through what he survived his best options were to just let his performance on the field do all the negotiating for him, but with the cryptic insinuations and prolonged droughts at the plate he may be headed for another battle even after the season is over.