Jeff Bagwell has played his entire 15-year Major League Baseball career with the Houston Astros. Until 2005, he had only one season (1994) in which he played less than 140 games. That’s durability, however, the Houston Astros are ready for Jeff to lay down the bagpipes in the name of insurance money. So much for loyalty.
Bagwell is coming off shoulder surgery last season, and no one knows for sure whether he can even play, let alone at the level that we’ve come to expect from the Paul Bunyanesque slugger who appears as if he’s grinding bat handles into saw dust each time he steps into the box for a hack. And when he wields that lumber, he never gets cheated. Seemingly though, the question isn’t surrounding Bagwell’s ability to swing the bat, but instead, uncertainty over whether or not he can throw a baseball ten feet.
Most pundits would say that Bags should pack up his namesakes and head to an American League team so he can DH, but he’s owed $17 million this season by the Astros, and who in their right mind is going to pick up even half of that contract.
The Astros, it’s reported on ESPN.com, want Bagwell to retire so that they can cash in on a $15.6 million insurance policy, but Pipes wants to play ball, and after 15 years, he has the right to go to camp and see if he has any juice, or maybe better, ligaments left in that right flipper.
Bagwell has turned in a career much the like of a few fellas that are being consistently left on the Hall of Fame’s doorsteps — Andre Dawson, Jim Rice, Dale Murphy. He has Astros records with 449 homers and 1,529 RBIs. He also sports a .297 career average, but it is unlikely that he’ll ever garner any HOF support when the “steroid factor” age is just now coming into full bloom with the unforgiving baseball writing community. He’s got more homers than Dawson, Rice and Murphy, and just “The Hawk” has him in the RBI catagory by a mere 60. That means about as much as calculus in the real world, but it speaks to the career he has had in Houston. It speaks to them honoring him with the opportunity to play. It speaks to the Astros infidelity this off-season. Thanks, but no thanks, Mr. Clemens. Thanks, but no thanks, Mr. Bagwell.
The game is about money. It’s ruined the purity of it but it’s worthless to explore a diatribe about the changing face of sports in the world of free agency and multi-million dollar contracts. Win today, or you’re financially kaput. The Stros may find that saving some money might lead to that anyway, when their fan base walks away from their cold-hearted indifference.