CardsFan88
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Was put up on sportsline yesterday, but there's a lack of material and posting on this board so here it is
http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/story/7206848
TUCSON, Ariz. -- They're the $1 million questions for the Arizona Diamondbacks:
Second baseman Roberto Alomar has become a shell of the player he once was, and is that simply because his skills have diminished at an alarming pace as he has eased into his mid-30s?
Roberto Alomar is trying to turn back the clock at age 36. (AP)
Roberto Alomar is trying to turn back the clock at age 36.(AP)
Or is it because he simply became uninterested after Cleveland traded him to the New York Mets before the 2002 season?
The questions arrive at the ballpark long before Alomar does these days. General managers. Scouts. Managers. Coaches. What's wrong with Alomar? What happened to Alomar? Can you believe it?
Everybody wants to know. Everybody has an opinion. The answer is out there somewhere. It must be. Isn't it?
"I wouldn't have acquired him if I thought his skills had diminished that much," said Chicago White Sox general manager Kenny Williams, who picked up Alomar from the New York Mets last July. "I acquired him because I thought he could help us get to the World Series."
"He didn't have Roberto Alomar years," said Matt Galante, the New York Mets infield coach, who watched the start of the decline from close range. "He didn't play bad for us. But when you usually hit .320 and you drop to .260, that's noticeable."
There is a whole lot of weirdness out there, and it doesn't only pertain to Alomar's dwindling numbers.
Disbelieving that a Hall of Fame-caliber player can (poof!) disappear like that, the St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Dodgers and the White Sox all talked with Alomar over the winter. And they were talking numbers much higher than the $1 million Alomar wound up taking from the Diamondbacks ($650,000 this season, the rest deferred).
But Alomar, who recently moved into a house in Scottsdale, told buddy Carlos Baerga not only that he'd love to play for the Diamondbacks, but also that he would do so inexpensively. Baerga passed the information on to Arizona GM Joe Garagiola Jr., and once he learned what Alomar was willing to sign for, he quickly moved into action.
"This is where I want to play," Alomar said. "I bought a house here. I've been working out here. I liked it. I made my decision on that. I made my decision to stay here.
"I think we have a great team. It's a good bunch of people. Everybody has one goal in mind, and that's to win. It's a fun team. If we can stay healthy, we have a chance to win."
Yes. If the Diamondbacks do stay healthy, they can win. And right now, left fielder Luis Gonzalez's elbow is in bad shape, and ace Randy Johnson is 40, and closer Matt Mantei is a walking injury waiting to happen, so that's no guarantee. Meanwhile, aside from good health, certain other things must also happen.
One of them is Alomar reversing his downward spiral.
"Roberto needed to rededicate himself in the offseason, which he's done," Williams said. "He needed to be in a place more conducive to his personality."
If his skills have gone, well, there's not much anybody is going to do about that.
But if it's simply a matter of rededicating himself, as Williams and many others around the game think, well, Alomar is meeting that challenge directly. This winter, he spent two months working out at the highly acclaimed Athletes' Performance Institute in Phoenix, training harder than he has since, well, probably harder than he ever has.
"Everyone has their own opinion," Alomar said the other morning. "Hopefully, I'll get back to where I was before."
He paused, looked off in the distance and continued.
"Everybody has their own opinion. I dedicated myself a little more this winter. I worked out. I worked out. That's it. I don't like to say who or what. I worked out the whole body, my whole body."
Williams isn't the only one who thinks Alomar had become complacent and needed a swift kick in the pants.
"Roberto is a great player," Galante said. "Roberto is getting older like a lot of guys are. As other players work at their skills, Roberto can maintain what he had before."
And Sandy Alomar, the White Sox catcher who is Roberto's brother, thinks the two months at the Athletes' Performance Institute will help "a lot."
"The tools are there, it's just a matter of getting his body back," Sandy Alomar said. "Robbie is like a Mercedes Benz. You've got a Mercedes Benz, it's riding very good, it's one of the best cars out there. But you have to service the car, too.
"That's how Robbie is."
But what if it's more than conditioning? What if the game has caught up to Roberto Alomar? He's 36 now, and sometimes quickness, reflexes and agility simply can no longer be tuned up.
"I feel good," Alomar said. "I feel like I'm playing some good baseball this spring. So hopefully, it works out.
"Only time will tell. But I feel much better now."
The trends certainly are worrisome.
In 2001, his final season in Cleveland, Alomar batted a scorching .336 with 20 homers and 100 RBI. His on-base percentage was a smoking .415.
The next season, his first with the Mets, Alomar slipped to .266, 11 homers, 53 RBI and a .331 on-base percentage.
Then, in 73 games for the Mets in '03, he batted .262 with two homers and 22 RBI and a .336 on-base percentage.
Traded to the White Sox, Alomar batted .253 with three homers, 17 RBI and a .330 on-base percentage in 67 games.
His switch-hitting skills have been slipping away, too. His batting average as a right-hander has worsened in every season since 2000 -- to a career-low .189 in 2003.
Does he feel as if he still has things to prove?
"Hey, there's always ups and downs in any career," Alomar said. "I have played 16 years in this league, and I had some great years. That's all I can say to that question. I've also had some years you wouldn't like to have, but that's part of the game.
"I enjoy it. It's all I've done all my life. I take life day by day. You're always looking to play two or three more years. Only your body will dictate that."
So far this spring, the Diamondbacks are pretty sure that Alomar's body is hinting at a comeback season. Manager Bob Brenly likes the way he's been "spraying the ball all over the place," and he says he's seen flashes of the old defensive brilliance from his new second baseman.
"Any player at that stage of his career, you're not going to be as fast as you once were when you were 21 years old," Brenly said. "But because of his experience and knowledge, he can make up for it in other ways.
"My own opinion, the last couple of years he's had some personal things he was dealing with, and he probably wasn't in as good a shape as he was.
"But physically, he's great. He's ready to go."
As usual, the game will be the judge of that.
Miller's previous camping stops: Padres in Peoria | Rangers in Surprise | A's in Phoenix | Brewers in Maryvale | Giants in Scottsdale | Cubs in Mesa | Angels in Tempe | Marlins in Jupiter | Reds in Sarasota, Indians in Winter Haven | Cardinals in Jupiter | Mets in Port St. Lucie | Dodgers in Vero Beach | Orioles in Fort Lauderdale | Expos in Viera | Braves in Kissimmee | Tigers in Lakeland | Pirates in Bradenton | Devil Rays in St. Petersburg | Blue Jays in Dunedin | Twins in Fort Myers | Red Sox in Fort Myers | Yankees in Tampa | Astros in Kissimmee | Phillies in Clearwater | Red Sox in Fort Myers
http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/story/7206848
TUCSON, Ariz. -- They're the $1 million questions for the Arizona Diamondbacks:
Second baseman Roberto Alomar has become a shell of the player he once was, and is that simply because his skills have diminished at an alarming pace as he has eased into his mid-30s?
Roberto Alomar is trying to turn back the clock at age 36. (AP)
Roberto Alomar is trying to turn back the clock at age 36.(AP)
Or is it because he simply became uninterested after Cleveland traded him to the New York Mets before the 2002 season?
The questions arrive at the ballpark long before Alomar does these days. General managers. Scouts. Managers. Coaches. What's wrong with Alomar? What happened to Alomar? Can you believe it?
Everybody wants to know. Everybody has an opinion. The answer is out there somewhere. It must be. Isn't it?
"I wouldn't have acquired him if I thought his skills had diminished that much," said Chicago White Sox general manager Kenny Williams, who picked up Alomar from the New York Mets last July. "I acquired him because I thought he could help us get to the World Series."
"He didn't have Roberto Alomar years," said Matt Galante, the New York Mets infield coach, who watched the start of the decline from close range. "He didn't play bad for us. But when you usually hit .320 and you drop to .260, that's noticeable."
There is a whole lot of weirdness out there, and it doesn't only pertain to Alomar's dwindling numbers.
Disbelieving that a Hall of Fame-caliber player can (poof!) disappear like that, the St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Dodgers and the White Sox all talked with Alomar over the winter. And they were talking numbers much higher than the $1 million Alomar wound up taking from the Diamondbacks ($650,000 this season, the rest deferred).
But Alomar, who recently moved into a house in Scottsdale, told buddy Carlos Baerga not only that he'd love to play for the Diamondbacks, but also that he would do so inexpensively. Baerga passed the information on to Arizona GM Joe Garagiola Jr., and once he learned what Alomar was willing to sign for, he quickly moved into action.
"This is where I want to play," Alomar said. "I bought a house here. I've been working out here. I liked it. I made my decision on that. I made my decision to stay here.
"I think we have a great team. It's a good bunch of people. Everybody has one goal in mind, and that's to win. It's a fun team. If we can stay healthy, we have a chance to win."
Yes. If the Diamondbacks do stay healthy, they can win. And right now, left fielder Luis Gonzalez's elbow is in bad shape, and ace Randy Johnson is 40, and closer Matt Mantei is a walking injury waiting to happen, so that's no guarantee. Meanwhile, aside from good health, certain other things must also happen.
One of them is Alomar reversing his downward spiral.
"Roberto needed to rededicate himself in the offseason, which he's done," Williams said. "He needed to be in a place more conducive to his personality."
If his skills have gone, well, there's not much anybody is going to do about that.
But if it's simply a matter of rededicating himself, as Williams and many others around the game think, well, Alomar is meeting that challenge directly. This winter, he spent two months working out at the highly acclaimed Athletes' Performance Institute in Phoenix, training harder than he has since, well, probably harder than he ever has.
"Everyone has their own opinion," Alomar said the other morning. "Hopefully, I'll get back to where I was before."
He paused, looked off in the distance and continued.
"Everybody has their own opinion. I dedicated myself a little more this winter. I worked out. I worked out. That's it. I don't like to say who or what. I worked out the whole body, my whole body."
Williams isn't the only one who thinks Alomar had become complacent and needed a swift kick in the pants.
"Roberto is a great player," Galante said. "Roberto is getting older like a lot of guys are. As other players work at their skills, Roberto can maintain what he had before."
And Sandy Alomar, the White Sox catcher who is Roberto's brother, thinks the two months at the Athletes' Performance Institute will help "a lot."
"The tools are there, it's just a matter of getting his body back," Sandy Alomar said. "Robbie is like a Mercedes Benz. You've got a Mercedes Benz, it's riding very good, it's one of the best cars out there. But you have to service the car, too.
"That's how Robbie is."
But what if it's more than conditioning? What if the game has caught up to Roberto Alomar? He's 36 now, and sometimes quickness, reflexes and agility simply can no longer be tuned up.
"I feel good," Alomar said. "I feel like I'm playing some good baseball this spring. So hopefully, it works out.
"Only time will tell. But I feel much better now."
The trends certainly are worrisome.
In 2001, his final season in Cleveland, Alomar batted a scorching .336 with 20 homers and 100 RBI. His on-base percentage was a smoking .415.
The next season, his first with the Mets, Alomar slipped to .266, 11 homers, 53 RBI and a .331 on-base percentage.
Then, in 73 games for the Mets in '03, he batted .262 with two homers and 22 RBI and a .336 on-base percentage.
Traded to the White Sox, Alomar batted .253 with three homers, 17 RBI and a .330 on-base percentage in 67 games.
His switch-hitting skills have been slipping away, too. His batting average as a right-hander has worsened in every season since 2000 -- to a career-low .189 in 2003.
Does he feel as if he still has things to prove?
"Hey, there's always ups and downs in any career," Alomar said. "I have played 16 years in this league, and I had some great years. That's all I can say to that question. I've also had some years you wouldn't like to have, but that's part of the game.
"I enjoy it. It's all I've done all my life. I take life day by day. You're always looking to play two or three more years. Only your body will dictate that."
So far this spring, the Diamondbacks are pretty sure that Alomar's body is hinting at a comeback season. Manager Bob Brenly likes the way he's been "spraying the ball all over the place," and he says he's seen flashes of the old defensive brilliance from his new second baseman.
"Any player at that stage of his career, you're not going to be as fast as you once were when you were 21 years old," Brenly said. "But because of his experience and knowledge, he can make up for it in other ways.
"My own opinion, the last couple of years he's had some personal things he was dealing with, and he probably wasn't in as good a shape as he was.
"But physically, he's great. He's ready to go."
As usual, the game will be the judge of that.
Miller's previous camping stops: Padres in Peoria | Rangers in Surprise | A's in Phoenix | Brewers in Maryvale | Giants in Scottsdale | Cubs in Mesa | Angels in Tempe | Marlins in Jupiter | Reds in Sarasota, Indians in Winter Haven | Cardinals in Jupiter | Mets in Port St. Lucie | Dodgers in Vero Beach | Orioles in Fort Lauderdale | Expos in Viera | Braves in Kissimmee | Tigers in Lakeland | Pirates in Bradenton | Devil Rays in St. Petersburg | Blue Jays in Dunedin | Twins in Fort Myers | Red Sox in Fort Myers | Yankees in Tampa | Astros in Kissimmee | Phillies in Clearwater | Red Sox in Fort Myers
