Saturday, March 30, 2013

Travis Blackley DFA'd, Hangs out with Fans.

A long, long time ago. I can still remember how the sunshine made me feel inside. I used to play-ay baseball, at a high school in southern California, And two years behind me was this kid Daric Barton.

OK, so I'm not much for making song parodies, but at least I speak da troof. The Oakland Athletics DFA'd a Jordan Norberto, Daric Barton and Travis Blackley yesterday from their Major League roster as spring training dwindles away and Opening Day creeps closer.

Daric Barton was a slight unfortunate for this blogger. Barton is a graduate of Marina High School in Huntington Beach, CA, the high school that just so happens to be my Alma Mater. Barton had seemingly stamped his ticket as an everyday Major League player in 2010 when he posted a .273/.393/.405 slash line, collecting a league leading 110 walks and putting up a bWAR of 5.4. But, after 67 games in 2011, he was diagnosed with a torn labrum and missed the rest of the season. He came back late in 2012, but struggled to the tune of a .204/.338/.292 slash line and a bWAR of 0.3. His spring was looking eerily similar to 2012, so the A's made the decision to send him packing.

But this isn't about Barton, I'm just waxing poetic for the sake of waxing poetic. This is about Travis Blackley, and what he did today after getting the same heave-ho that Barton got.

There really is no way to tip toe around it, Blackley got torched this spring. If anyone has a batter way to describe him giving up 20 earned runs in 12.2 IP, I'm all ears. But instead of sulking around and being a depressing figure while stalking around Oakland Coliseum today, Blackley did the opposite. He ventured out among the fans and took in an A's game as if he was one of them, tweeting away as he went.

 


He then shifted gears, and headed out to be one with the bleacher creatures.





He also had parting words for the fans, which says more about the fans than it does about T-Black.





Blackley only spent one year in Oakland, putting up a bWAR of 1.2 in 24 appearances across 102.2 innings. It would be easy for fans to not get attached to a player in that short amount of time. But, considering the run that Oakland went on last year, it is completely understandable to see a fan base gravitate to a group of players like these fans did.

So, good for you Travis. I applaud you for staying classy at a time when primadonna players with oversized egos and bank accounts rule the landscape. Well done, even if your overachieving team did blew up my prediction model last year.

Author mike_hllywa
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