THE TROUBLE WITH HATING JOBA CHAMBERLAIN

Know the whole story, come on guys... you're better than that.

Look, if a baseball fan doesn't like a player, I have no beef with that. I really don't.  But here's what I don't like. I have never been a fan of calling a player a "bum."  I don't understand that and I never will.  Being called a bum is suggesting that the player, whomever he is, doesn't work hard.  It's suggesting that they're just "lazy" or don't apply themselves.  Here's the reality; players that make it to a major league club don't just "slip in".  They are noticed.  They get contracts based on performance. There's talent there.  And so... when a player has a bad season, that's exactly what it is in my opinion... a bad season.  Sure, sometimes players end up fading, but it doesn't mean they "suck" or are "bums".  It means they just don't have what they once had.  Maybe it's confidence, or age, or injury... whatever.  In my opinion... name calling... it's silly.

That brings me to Joba Chamberlain.  I wrote a piece yesterday titled WHY ISN'T JOBA CHAMBERLAIN BEEN SIGNED YET? Sure, my titled asked a question, but what I noticed next came as a surprise. What you're about to see is comedy.  Some of it may have been from just seeing the headline and never reading the story and some of it is not knowing the true nature of what has transpired in Joba Chamberalin's off season. Some of the comments may even just be jokes. Whatever the case, I found it interesting.

The fact is, Joba Chamberalin has actually received a ton of offers this offseason, but the reason why he remains unsigned isn't because he's a "bum" at all.  It's because he turned those contract offers down.  Check this out:

That's a small sample on Facebook, and look, this isn't some kind of lesson in reader humiliation or anything... I love the BYB readers.  All I'm saying is there's a full story about Joba Chamberlain here. Maybe I should have revealed everything about Joba in my piece yesterday and I apologize and that's my bad.  But look, it brings me back to my point... teams wanted Joba, but Joba, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports: "“has rejected multiple offers from teams he did not want to join.”

So, sure, if you wanted to call him a bum, I guess you have that right. But the reality is, that really doesn't make much sense.  And sure, you could say that no one wanted him... but that's not true either.

What is true is Joba was probably waiting for the right deal.  That's it... plain and simple.

Look, enjoy your Saturday and do NOT take this post personally.  I just wanted to bring it to everyone's attention... it's weird, that's all.



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