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Delmon's maturity questioned

Times

"I don't think anybody in this locker room is feeling sorry for him," rightfielder  Aubrey Huff said. "A lot of guys worked hard to get here. ... He rubbed a lot of people in here the wrong way. It was the wrong thing to say. He showed a little immaturity and that's why he's not here. It takes a lot of nerve to say the organization is cheap when you got $5.8-million (to sign)."

If anyone knows about not getting the call based on some nice years in the minors it is one Jonny Gomes. He had to earn his way up over and over again. In the meantime, Gomes kept his ranting to a minimum saying he did not know what he had to do to get the call. He did not rip the organization, nor did he say he ever wanted out.

I mentioned earlier how I hoped Sternberg would fix this. It was not out of the question that the organization approaching Delmon explaining he had a nice year and that they hoped he is ready physically and mentally to compete for a job next year. These are young kids we have and they need to be nurtured both on and off the field by the organization. I think both sides could have handled the situation better and now the unfortunate thing is Delmon has damaged his relationship with veteran players. Sort of like a "Greg Jeffries moment" circa 1988 where all the players began hating the young prospect him and found a hard time making friends in the clubhouse.

Gomes says:

There's a lot of people in the game who really had to pay their dues, like me. I don't know what's going to happen, but you don't want to rub the veterans the wrong way. You can't play with everyone and what you have is a rep. And that's the rep he's going to carry around."

For another take on this, Shelton says kid has some grwoing up to do as well.