Texas Rangers' designated hitter Vladimir Guerrero is all smiles as he prepares to play the Los Angeles Angel's prior to the start of their American League MLB baseball game in Anaheim, California June 29, 2010.Reuters
Alex Anthopoulos would never admit it – he was too busy praising Vladimir Guerrero as being an all-out great guy, not to mention teammate, during his brief minor-league sojourn with the American League club.
In reality, when the 37-year-old outfielder gave the Toronto Blue Jays an ultimatum – either promote him to the big-league roster or he would walk – it provided the general manager with an easy out to severe ties with the former great.
No fuss, no muss, at least as far as the GM was willing to admit about the failed experiment.
"It was just one of those things where I think Vlad felt he was prepared to come up here now and our staff didn't necessary see it that way and felt he needed a few more games [at the minor-league level]," Anthopoulos said Tuesday.
"That was his right, we went into this with our eyes wide open. There was no guarantees he was going to come up here, no promises. We were going to continue to evaluate him."
Through a prearranged deal between the player and his agent, Bean Stringfellow, Anthopoulos said he had a "handshake agreement" Guerrero would be granted his outright release from the minor-league contract he signed with the club any time he wanted.
Guerrero decided to trigger that agreement following Monday's game with the Las Vegas 51s, Toronto's Triple A affiliate where he had been stationed to try to rediscover his batting chops.
In reality, it wasn't working out for the future Hall of Fame player, who totaled 2,590 hits during a great 16-year MLB career, including 449 home runs.
After hitting .450 through four games at the Single-A level, Guerrero was struggling after getting bumped up to Triple A, where he was hitting just .214 through his first seven games.
Ironically, he enjoyed his most successful outing in his eighth game on Monday, the time he chose to quit the organization, after going 4-for-5 with a triple during a 13-3 Las Vegas victory over Tuscon.
In a game where the 51s rattled Tuscon pitchers for 17 hits, Guerrero's performance hiked his batting average to a more aesthetically-pleasing .303.
It was suggested to Anthopoulos that Guerrero's performance at the minor league level did not warrant any consideration for a promotion to the big league club at this time. The GM responded diplomatically that Guerrero was "slowly" starting to get better.
And Guerrero did not go graciously, ripping the Blue Jays in comments he made to Hector Gomez, a Spanish language journalist.
"Promises made to me were not fulfilled," Guerrero was quoted as saying. "I am not a child. One day I heard one thing and the next day another."
This was all news to Anthopoulos, who admitted he never spoke directly to Guerrero but had frequent contact with Stringfellow and that their relationship always remained cordial.
Anthopoulos said he had no idea why the player would suddenly be upset with the Blue Jays organization.