This is a summer job. This is a profession. This is something I have to do for me.

They told me I was going to be the center fielder, but they didn’t know how much I was going to get a chance to play. Being a professional athlete and the player I am, inside I wanted a chance to play every day.

– Edmonds

For all of his brave catches, Edmonds’s Cardinal career ends with a coward’s way out. Because of his fragile ego and an inability to deal with the reality of his fleeting skills, Edmonds couldn’t handle the truth that La Russa laid out for him, which was hardly insulting.

It’s a sad and divisive conclusion to the tenure of the best Cardinal centerfielder of all-time, and one of the core players of one of the team’s most successful era since the ‘forties. As we wrote previously, trading Edmonds shouldn’t have been a priority this offseason, since it was possible that Edmonds could attain to the value of his $8 million salary in this, the final year of his contract. Instead, the Cardinals felt forced to move Edmonds on account of his unwillingness to deal with the fact that he’s no longer the player he used to be. We understand a veteran’s prerogative to respect and be given the benefit of the doubt. But Edmonds has had that, namely in the $19 million, two-year contract extension he signed before the 2007 season, warranted only by his previous accomplishments with the club and based little on what he might do in 2007, or 2008 for that matter. Indeed, the extension (the Cardinals already had an option for the 2007 season) was seemingly based on a small sample of JEd’s rebound in October 2006; at the time, Walt Jocketty said "We wanted to make sure he was OK. Obviously, he was in the month of October." But Edmonds was already on the downward slope of his career (perhaps if our little April Fool’s joke had turned out to be real, Edmonds wouldn’t find himself in the position he’s in):

So Edmonds’s poor-me, no-respect outlook strikes us as whiny and ungracious, to say the least. The organization rewarded him well, when he should’ve been glad to even have his 2007 option picked up.

And yet, at $8 million, Edmonds still could’ve provided value in 2008 and been the mentor for upcoming Colby Rasmus. Bill James had a surprisingly bullish projection of 6.45 RC27 for him, while ZiPS gives him a respectable .265 GPA, which is above league-average for his position (.254). We don’t blame John Mozeliak for accommodating Edmonds, though, since, if Edmonds’s December attitude is any indication, the team would’ve been in for a long, contentious summer with Edmonds refusing to take his age like a man. It does give cause for concern, however, that the team is planning on handing the 2008 centerfield reins to Rick Ankiel; Bill DeWitt’s comment that "Rick Ankiel has since emerged as a force" displays a pollyanna-like view of reality — sorry, but a projected .285 OBP is not "a force." Some in the organization may still be starry-eyed about Ankiel, but he proved a few months ago that he was fake gold. Of course, a trade or signing for a replacement centerfielder (and hopefully not Mike Cameron) could still be in the offing, and DeWitt could simply be bluffing.

Instead of finishing his Cardinal career with honor and grateful ovations, Edmonds chose the easy way out, letting his pride get in the way of doing his job. Compare Edmonds’s entitlement mentality to Albert Pujols’s wintertime talk of having to earn his spot on the roster (after winning the MVP), and one can see whom the real leader on the team is. Fans and the organization might’ve seen it coming, what with his whiny episodes this summer in which he complained that he wasn’t getting enough playing time. We can only imagine how difficult it must be for a player who once stood so high among his peers to witness his skills diminish. But aging gracefully is a mark of a person comfortable with his achievements and his own mortality. That Edmonds allowed his inability to come to grips with reality makes his exit all the more bitter.

This entry was posted by Pip on Monday, December 17th, 2007 at 7:29 pm and is filed under analysis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.