THE LEADER THAT CAN BE EDUARDO NUNEZ

Most people don’t realize that once I finish a piece on a certain topic here at BYB, I move on. 80% of the time, I’ll rant, or write my thoughts, maybe I’ll misspell a few, after all, my brain is working faster than my hands.  After that,  it’s posted, people chat about it, and sometimes we have a pretty good discussion on a  social network somewhere and then I’m out of there.  I can’t harp on my posts… I have too much going on.  You look for it, comment, like, unlike, and move on too. That’s the way it should work.  After all, I don’t take myself too seriously. I have an opinion just like you.  The difference is I have a forum and maybe you don’t, but it doesn’t make me more important than you… we’re all fans at the end of the day.

That being said, I was eager to get this one on BYB today.  The reality is, sometimes my rants sound more like anger.  Truth be told, I’m not an angry person.  As a young man, I would flip out at a regular season loss to a team like the Royals. Now, as I evaluate my life later on, my emotions toward Yankee baseball really take a toll on me during an AL Eastern rival series, the playoffs, the World Series and whatever happens during the season has to be on them, not on me, otherwise... I’ll stroke out… you follow me so far? 

So why am I telling you this you ask? Because of this… Eduardo Nunez is personally, probably one of the nicest players in baseball, everybody says so. They also say he just wants to please the club and do his best.  Now, I have to say, I gave it to Nunez pretty hard in my piece titled EDUARDO NUNEZ IS ALL UP IN MY GRILL!, but something happened when I re-read Jon Lane’s piece (HERE) on YES Network.com from Thursday.  I realized that while criticism is fine and allowed, Nunie is human just like you or I.  Lane humanized this internal struggle I have with Nunez and his errors and I realized something… no one feels the pressure more than Nunie.  And so, while I may have opinions on his fielding… I can’t worry about it, he’s doing all the worrying and he’s doing all he can do to succeed.  Bottom line, that’s always been the underlying focus of BYB in the first place, and I’m not sure why I didn’t see it until Lane’s post. Believing in ones self and trying again even after you fail is our motto here for crying out loud.  What's wrong with me?

I played baseball for many years.  I perfected my fielding rarely making an error and that was because I was never going to be a great power hitter that I needed to “up” my game in certain other departments.  I was quick and I made sure I could play every position on the field, except for catcher…I hated that.  This, in turn made me succeed.  So maybe that’s it. Maybe it’s a deep rooted feeling I have about personal responsibility on the baseball field.   Can you fault me? I guess you could, after all, I’m not out on a professional baseball field and I never was. 

(In Photo: Marci with Ty Hensley)

But one thing that sticks in my mind was something that Marci Hensley, Ty Hensley’s mom told me in our interview with her back on Thanksgiving, (Read THANKSGIVING WITH THE HENSLEYS) when she spoke of the youngsters in the minor league system right now. Here’s that exchange:

 "BYB: You called me out the other day on Twitter when I wrote a piece critical of the Yankees handling of minor league talent in MAYBE THE GROOMING OF YOUNG YANKEE TALENT AIN'T WORKING. Fair enough. You quickly came to the defense of the young kids who put their everything into this glorious game.  Was that your motherly instinct coming out or what? 

Marci Hensley: I guess I'd be lying if I said there wasn't some momma bear reaction that caused me to reply, but not just because of Ty....  I do know that making it to the majors is more about a bunch of factors such as health, opportunity, and work ethic coming together.  That doesn't happen in one season with kids coming out of high school. It takes some time, in pinstripes or in some other jersey, it doesn't matter."

The reality is, she's right, I get it.  In my eyes, Eduardo Nunez, if he take some time and perfects his fielding could be a huge asset for the Yankees.  Maybe that’s why Brian Cashman never flipped him to Seattle for Cliff Lee.  Maybe that’s why the Yanks keep giving him shots.  And you know what? Maybe I need to think about giving this guy a chance… a true chance.  After all, Jon Lane’s piece makes sense and Nunez and his quotes from that piece (again, HERE) is pretty real:

 "It's hard when you know you can do better than that, and you're not doing it... I hear a lot of things. People blame you. 'You [stink].' 'You can't do this.' That's hard, but everything that I hear -- comments about myself -- they make me stronger. I tell myself, I work hard and I (will) prove them wrong. The people that talked about me bad, they're wrong."

"Joe told me, 'Why don't you try this?' Mick said, 'Yeah, why not?' Jeet told me, 'Yeah, do this. I think it's going to work because you're too long with the ball in your hand.' OK, let me try. … I still am uncomfortable sometimes, but I know it's going to work...I'll do my best."

So here’s my suggestion...   Succeed Nunez!  If you end up being that starting shortstop for the New York Yankees on opening day, then you earned it! Lead us out of the dugout,  head high and confident and do your thing.  

Bottom line, I’m behind all my New York Yankees, I just get critical when I know the importance of being there in the first place. But thank God for certain, great sports people... that opened my eyes on this one, I've turned the other cheek...  

That’s my take at least… what do you think? Comment.

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