Orlando Cabrera sets the record straight?

[caulfield12]

He was ripped in Chicago for twice asking to have scoring decisions changed, and he and White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen wound up spatting about that when Cabrera suggested that coaching staffs should back players who dispute calls. Then Cabrera was criticized for a radio interview late in the season in which he opined that the team should be more serious as they tried to wrap up the division.

 

"Right message, wrong messenger," declared one reporter whose relationship with Cabrera had soured after the first official-scorer flap.

 

The end result, Cabrera believes, is that after 10 years in the majors, he suddenly developed a bad reputation over minor incidents and mischaracterizations. That hurt him as he searched for a job, potentially costing him millions.

 

"I'm not a guy who goes to the media to fight with people," the shortstop said. "I just did what (Chicago) wanted me to do every day. They wanted me to be in the lineup every day, and I was, they wanted me to hit leadoff, I did. Everything they wanted, I did." Cabrera believes the official scorer business was blown out of proportion, and it should be noted that in both instances in May, the calls were changed. He also did not call the scorer directly, he called the team's PR person in Toronto and had a clubhouse attendant call the PR person in Chicago, which is not unprecedented.

 

The Chicago error came on a high throw on a stolen base attempt; the ball hit off Cabrera's glove and he was given an error. He felt it should have been ruled a stolen base because it was a straight steal - instead, the error was assigned to catcher Toby Hall. That earned Cabrera more condemnation, with charges that he was a selfish player who cared more about his own numbers than his teammates.

 

"I'm a guy who takes great pride in my defense," Cabrera said. "Yeah, I'm selfish. I show up 162 games a year for my team and I want to win, but I care about my numbers, too. In that case, that guy deserved a stolen base, too, and it was taken away from him. Toby went nuts when it was changed, and I said, 'Toby, I was fighting for both of us. I wanted the right call.'

 

"It was my mistake to say that everywhere else, the managers and coaches take care of that, but on the other teams I'd played for, as soon as they saw a hit that was ruled an error, they'd say, 'Don't worry, I'll take care of that.' "

 

In a late-season interview on the Score, he said that some players were clowning around too much, and, he said, "We don't come out every night as the winners. We come out hoping to win a ballgame. I don't think that's the right attitude." Cabrera doesn't understand why he was taken to task for that, saying he was including himself and he didn't name anyone in particular. And he remains hurt about an ESPN the Magazine article in April that had been pitched as a celebration of baseball in Colombia. Instead, it detailed the breakdown of a business deal between Cabrera and Edgar Renteria's brother over a team Cabrera owned in the Colombian winter league. Renteria, the Giants' shortstop, said in that story that Cabrera is jealous of him because he is the more popular player in their home country.

 

"I was baffled. I was on the floor," said Cabrera, who heard the comments straight off the reporter's tape recorder.

 

The White Sox offered Cabrera arbitration after the season but made it clear to him he wasn't in their plans, and he didn't find a job until the A's signed him this month. Some teams steered clear because Cabrera would cost them a draft pick, but Cabrera, 34, thinks it is also because he got a bad rap last year, despite the fact his teams have gone to the playoffs four of the past five years.

 

"It was really disappointing because you start to see and hear bad things, and it's like, 'Oh, my God, how did that happen?' " Cabrera said. "I was surprised teams even believed that. It's not fair, not because of the money, but because of my reputation. Every team was asking my agent, 'Is this going to happen in my clubhouse?' "

 

Assistant general manager David Forst confirmed that the A's did check things out. "It's something we considered, certainly," he said. "We looked into it, but there was nothing that superseded the fact that he's a good fit baseball-wise."

 

Guillen might not have been thrilled Cabrera disputed calls on his own, but said that he never had any problem with Cabrera when it came to performance.

 

"Cabby did a great job for us on the field and we wouldn't have won without him," Guillen said. "He had some problems with the media here, that's part of the game, but I only judge players on how they perform on the field and I have no problem with him. He plays hard, he plays every day."

 

Octavio Dotel, the ex-A's reliever, became friends with Cabrera in Chicago and he said, "You know how the media are, sometimes they can be nice, sometimes they can kill you, and people read that and believe it's how you really are. I can tell you that Orlando is a great friend, a great guy and a great teammate.

 

"I've seen those negative comments and I don't think any of them are true. And they are never about what kind of player Orlando is on the field. He plays hard like no one else and he wants to win every day. Maybe some people don't like him off the field, but he plays 162 games a year. That should tell you what kind of guy he is."

 

 

from sfgate.com

 

[daa84]

i always thought the guy got a bad rap as far as being a clubhouse guy....i wasn't thrilled with him as a player, but i loved his attitude. i believe he had problems with swisher, who seems more concerned with being a celebrity than anything else, but i always thought cabreras attitude was a good thing, even though he got knocked for it alot.

 

[hawkubes]

"In that case, that guy deserved a stolen base, too, and it was taken away from him. Toby went nuts when it was changed, and I said, 'Toby, I was fighting for both of us. I wanted the right call.'

 

Although not the greatest player, I don't ever recall anyone ever having a problem with Toby Hall's character. In fact he seemed to be a great clubhouse guy (being the "pie-man" and all"). If Toby went nuts, my guess is it was for good reason. How can Cabrera claim that he was fighting for both of them on that ruling. Let's just pretend they don't give anyone an error and call it a stolen base, What does that do for Toby Hall's percentage of throwing out basestealers. An unselfish gold glove caliber player wouldn't have even realized he was given an error, let alone whine about it afterward.

[Kyyle23]

"In that case, that guy deserved a stolen base, too, and it was taken away from him. Toby went nuts when it was changed, and I said, 'Toby, I was fighting for both of us. I wanted the right call.'

 

Although not the greatest player, I don't ever recall anyone ever having a problem with Toby Hall's character. In fact he seemed to be a great clubhouse guy (being the "pie-man" and all"). If Toby went nuts, my guess is it was for good reason. How can Cabrera claim that he was fighting for both of them on that ruling. Let's just pretend they don't give anyone an error and call it a stolen base, What does that do for Toby Hall's percentage of throwing out basestealers. An unselfish gold glove caliber player wouldn't have even realized he was given an error, let alone whine about it afterward.

 

Because he wanted no error assigned, a stolen base given to the runner instead of an error assigned. Thats pretty much fighting for the both of them to not get an error.

[EvilMonkey]

i always thought the guy got a bad rap as far as being a clubhouse guy....i wasn't thrilled with him as a player, but i loved his attitude. i believe he had problems with swisher, who seems more concerned with being a celebrity than anything else, but i always thought cabreras attitude was a good thing, even though he got knocked for it alot.

His attitude where? He didn't even look like he was TRYING until around the all-star break. Up until then he looked as if he was just dogging it like he didn't really want to be there.

[Whitewashed in '05]

It seems OC is a good teammate, but bumped heads with a couple people in the organization and once the media heard a peep they wrote articles solely on him being a cancer. That is one reason KW always says he looks for people that can fit in the club, but can also handle the Chicago media. Maybe if he was with the team for more than one season people would have seen he wasn't a cancer.

[shakes]

He also had problems with Dye. I've never heard of anybody having a problem with him. Orlando was labeled as a team leader, but Ozzie had to pull him into his office and ask him to be more of a leader. He didn't lead all year and then called his teamates out in the press for not wanting to win. He also called out his manager in the press. When you have a problem with management and your teamates, it's time to go. Oh, and it's not the first place he's been run out of.

 

Good riddance.

[whitesoxfan101]

Meh none of this means a lot to me. He was part of a division winning team that had a memorable season, and we've got Alexei in his spot now and Getz at 2nd, with Beckham on the way to the majors, so it's not like we had to let him go and leave gigantic holes on our roster. This is just water under the bridge to me, and I wish OC the best.

[elrockinMT]

Meh none of this means a lot to me. He was part of a division winning team that had a memorable season, and we've got Alexei in his spot now and Getz at 2nd, with Beckham on the way to the majors, so it's not like we had to let him go and leave gigantic holes on our roster. This is just water under the bridge to me, and I wish OC the best.

 

I think that's the best way to look at it too

[nitetrain8601]

i always thought the guy got a bad rap as far as being a clubhouse guy....i wasn't thrilled with him as a player, but i loved his attitude. i believe he had problems with swisher, who seems more concerned with being a celebrity than anything else, but i always thought cabreras attitude was a good thing, even though he got knocked for it alot.

 

Agreed and I stated such back then, especially after the hoping to win comment. Basically he was saying, the Sox were lacking confidence in themselves which is something you need to win. He used himself in that as well. He didn't say, "They". And yeah, my guess is that he and Nick probably bumped heads the most. Again, I loved his attitude and outside of error-gate, he was given a bad rap.

 

 

It seems OC is a good teammate, but bumped heads with a couple people in the organization and once the media heard a peep they wrote articles solely on him being a cancer. That is one reason KW always says he looks for people that can fit in the club, but can also handle the Chicago media. Maybe if he was with the team for more than one season people would have seen he wasn't a cancer.

 

Yeah, Joe Cowley seemed to hate the guy since the beginning.

[santo=dorf]

It's refreshing to see it come straight from the horse's mouth that he's selfish and worries about his numbers.

 

Quite a few of us were asked to "back it up" when we were criticizing him last year as if his body language, stories about the press box, and Guillen quotes weren't enough.

 

We were right.

[Ron]

It's refreshing to see it come straight from the horse's mouth that he's selfish and worries about his numbers.

It's not really that new. When Error-gate first broke, he said

If there was a major-league player who tells me he's not selfish, he's lying. Everyone is selfish about numbers, because that's the only thing people cannot lie about.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3415430

 

 

 

[sox1844]

It seems OC is a good teammate, but bumped heads with a couple people in the organization and once the media heard a peep they wrote articles solely on him being a cancer. That is one reason KW always says he looks for people that can fit in the club, but can also handle the Chicago media. Maybe if he was with the team for more than one season people would have seen he wasn't a cancer.

 

What I don't understand is that Ozzie has since said he had no problem with him last year and that we wouldn't have won without him, Joey Cora as well. Also Dotel said he was a great teammate and a great friend. But why didn't one guy say that last year when he was getting ripped all year long? What I want to see is WHICH player had these problems with him. Seems like someone was either talking smack behind OC's back, or Cowley made it all up because he hated him. I hate it when its all rumors and no one comes out and says it directly especially when its Cowley, citing a "source" I think this guy played as hard as he could for us, ended up having a decent year, and I appreciate that.

 

And what do you mean about playing more than one season on one team? He was with Montreal for 6 years, traded to Boston in the last year of his contract. Got the best offer from the Angels at 4 years when Boston wanted to give 2. Played 3 seasons with LAA, and got traded in the last year to the WS b/c Angels had a ton of young guys at SS and needed pitching. Turned down arb and signed with Oakland. I don't see the drama.... so many guys have bounced around so much more. Look at Renteria!

[qwerty]

My likes are your dislikes. My dislikes are your likes. So it is entirely possible who you like i would not like and vice versa. The same goes for dotel liking cabrera and whoever (likely more than just one person) had a problem with cabrera.

 

No matter how bad someone does not like cowley, i'm sure they would even be able to admit everything throughout the season was not entirely made up. How i see it is, behind every rumor there is at least a shred of truth.

 

Renteria's service time is 11.48 years.

 

Cabrera's service time is 9.7 years.

 

Renteria is on his sixth team.

 

Cabrera is on his fifth team.

 

 

[sox1844]

OK, but being traded in the last year of a contract is not uncommon. And signing with a different team during free agency is not uncommon either. I guess I see it differently when a guy gets traded in the first year of a 4 year deal, rather than in the last year.

 

I agree about shreds of truth being behind all this, I just find it hard to trust rumors when there are conflicting stories. All year Cowley made it look like Ozzie and Cora hated OC, now Ozzie and Joey are coming out saying they had no problems with him/wouldn't have won without him. At spring training you see him hugging all his ex-teammates, so it makes you wonder who was really at odds- OC and the org. or OC and Cowley.

 

Whatever, either way it doesn't matter now.

[RockRaines]

Cowley's awful reporting was a big part of the media bias towards OC. COwley was slighted ONCE in a postgame interview and as his usual unprofessional attitude went totally off base in describing OC's behavior. I have some emails saved from Joe that show some of his bias. He's known for that in the media circle and has rubbed many the athlete and co-worker the wrong way. Its one of the reasons he isnt very welcome in the Sox clubhouse today

[caulfield12]

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/wh...T-sox29.article

 

Decent article by Cowley starring two of his favorites, Thome and Konerko...

 

 

 

Q: Carl Everett said after he left that the club was missing an in-your-face leader. That perception is still out there. How accurate is it?

 

JERMAINE DYE: ''OK, I see I'm not included in this ... OK.''

 

PK: ''Well, if 'Truth-asaurus' said it, it's gospel.''

 

JT: ''Here's the thing: There's 'rah-rah' leaders, there are leaders in performance, there are leaders in seniority. I think the misconception on what makes a good leader is, 'Oh, he might not say a whole lot, so he's not a legitimate leader.' Sometimes you don't have to be vocal and 'rah-rah.' You can pull a kid aside and kind of throw him in the right direction. You don't have to call a meeting and be like, 'You need to do this, you need to do that.' That's what makes a good team, when you have everyone working together. When guys aren't afraid to ask a veteran a question.''

 

PK: ''You have some