Is Hanley dogging it?

Earlier today, I mentioned how fans need to stop complaining about Hanley Ramirez and his potentially legitimate injury. Apparently, that should include some players as well. Here’s some childish antics:

"Each sitting at his locker about 10 feet apart, [Hanley] Ramirez and [Dan] Uggla openly argued in the clubhouse about why Ramirez really exited from Tuesday’s rain-delayed game in the fifth inning. Ramirez departed with cramping in his left hamstring, and he didn’t appreciate the reaction he got from Uggla and others.“A couple of the guys did like this when I came out,” said Ramirez, throwing his arms up in the air. “I’m not happy with the team.”Overhearing Ramirez, Uggla chimed in: “I was one of them.”Addressing the reporter, Ramirez answered: “You got it. Showed me up.”"

It goes on, with Dan Uggla spouting some stuff about Ramirez’s contract guaranteeing him and letting him not work to get his money. Read the article, most of the exchange is on there verbatim.

It’s patently ridiculous. If Hanley doesn’t feel healthy enough to play, he shouldn’t. The loss we would take by having him miss two or so weeks on the DL if he injures the hamstring further is far worse than having him miss a game and a half. And for Uggla to consider that Hanley would sit on his league-high batting average by sitting out through his slump is also moronic. As Hanley mentions, there’s no monetary reason for him to sit on stats because he’s already locked up long term and, in case Danny didn’t know, they don’t give out bonuses for batting averages or other numbers outside of plate appearances.

Hanley appears to have a reputation for being a slacker and a bit of an airhead, and maybe he is. But if he honestly feels injured, do you expect him to tough it out for the team and risk further injury? Hamstrings in particular are tricky injuries which can get aggravated and take a good amount of time from which to recover. Danny wants him to risk that for a game or two? It’s nuts. The idea that a player is supposed to “play through the pain” or whatever for his team is silly. If it’s pre-arbitration or arbitration years, there’s most certainly no reason to do something like that, as you’re not even getting paid at market level for your services. After you’ve received a big long-term deal, there’s no reason to do that because it’s in the team’s best interest to keep their investment healthy and it does not hurt you a bit to rest yourself.

Uggla wasn’t particularly happy last year to see Hanley get a long-term deal and not receive one himself. At the time, I wasn’t happy either, but it was definitely the right call. Maybe it got to Uggla, maybe it didn’t. Maybe he honestly has an issue with Hanley’s effort. I don’t know if it’s Uggla’s or anyone else’s call on whether Hanley is injured, unless that “anyone else” is a doctor or trainer. So let’s leave the diagnosing to those people.

Then again, maybe if Hanley doesn’t call out the players in the clubhouse about their reaction, which we did not hear much about other than it being presumably negative, maybe Uggla doesn’t step up and confront Hanley about his opinions. Hanley’s been a bit of a drama queen to the media regarding “things the team has done that he didn’t like,” such as the whole beaning incident in Toronto.

Danny, keep doing what you do best. You’re a tough guy, you’ve got a great bat, let’s use your skills on the field and let Hanley and the doctors and trainers determine whether Hanley is hurt. It isn’t as if this has been a repeating issue like it was with Manny Ramirez in Boston, and honestly, if Hanley continues to play as well as he does, it shouldn’t hurt in the least bit. Oh, and if Hanley could stop complaining to the media every time he doesn’t approve of his teammates’ actions, maybe they won’t get on you about little things like this. In short, everybody stop acting so silly.

H/T Juan C. Rodriguez