Josh Hamilton: What to do…

As much of you know Josh Hamilton has been in the media over the past week after another injury filled season, that ended in him being booed after each at-bat that ended in an out. One quote in particular stands out from the rest.

"“We don’t necessarily play for the people in the stands,” he said. “We play for each other. We spend every day with each other. We have relationships with each other. We love each other. We fight for each other. That’s what we play for.”"

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When you say this publicly, you are going to get backlash. That is exactly what he got. Many fans are not happy with the way Josh handled things after the season, just take this post from over at Halos Heaven for example. Josh isn’t doing himself any favors with the people that show up to the ballpark each day to watch him and the rest of his teammates play. He may play for his teammates, and I’m sure he does, but saying that it isn’t about the fans, that should never be said.

He wouldn’t have just finished his second season, of a five-year, $125 million deal if it wasn’t for the fans. The T.V. deals, the ticket sales, that all goes into the major contracts handed out to players like Hamilton. He will make a whopping $25 million next season according to the contract on Baseball-Reference, and if he keeps bashing the fans, he won’t be around in Los Angeles for long.

What can you do as a fan? Well first, you continue to cheer for the player that you know he can be. It was five short years ago that he won the MVP for the division rival Texas Rangers. That may seem like a long time, for a player that hasn’t put up those type of numbers since then, but he still has that ability. He shows flashes of it throughout the season, but it is never consistent enough for an entire season.

Being booed in the postseason after going 0-for-13 may motivate him a bit to be a better player in an Angels uniform and if it does, the fans have to be there to back him up. It may hurt now that he said what he said, but the fans have to continue to be behind the player that with the flip of a switch could carry this offense, batting in the five-hole.

There is a long offseason to be upset at the Josh Hamilton of 2014, but when that first pitch is thrown in 2015, the fans have to be behind the man that upset them.