Brian Giles
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
In the vast and basically uncharted jargon of baseball, there's not an uglier way to describe a player than as being "a cancer in the clubhouse." If such a malignancy lurks in a baseball locker room, purists would have us believe the team involved is in great peril.
The Pirates once were considered such a team. Their clubhouse was described in this newspaper as "dysfunctional." Talk shows repeatedly referred to various "cancers in the clubhouse," most notably Jason Kendall.
Well, the cancers have been excised. Kendall was shipped away after last season and before him, his buddies, Brian Giles and Mike Williams, also were dealt.
In their place is a feel-good clubhouse populated with men dedicated to victory. There's the upbeat leadership of Matt Lawton, the quintessential good-guy veteran. There's the solid professionalism of Rob Mackowiak, the contagious exuberance of Jack Wilson, the quiet mentoring of Jose Mesa. It's quite a contrast to the sullen presence of Kendall, who dominated the room without saying a word.
And the result of this new and improved clubhouse?
After 100 games this season, after their win Tuesday against the Florida Marlins, the Pirates were 44-56.
In 2004, with Kendall, they were 48-52 after 100 games.
In 2003, with Kendall for the entire season and Giles and Williams for about two-thirds of it, they were 47-53.
In 2002, with all of those players they were 47-53.
If you take these numbers to mean clubhouse cancers are overrated, you would be correct. Winning breeds good chemistry and not the other way around. Losing breeds unhappy clubhouses and unhappy players.
Kendall was not the ideal teammate. Nor were Williams and Giles. But all three were significantly more successful than most of their teammates when it came to producing on the field.
So what if they were grumps in the clubhouse? So what if they were too cliquish? So what if they treated young players, particularly Wilson, like unwelcome visitors?
It doesn't mean a thing once the first pitch is thrown.
Kendall dominated the Pirates' clubhouse not because he was the highest-paid player or the one with the most longevity. He dominated because he was respected. The players looked to him, whether he wanted them to or not, because he played the game the way it was supposed to be played. He was a throwback. He was a guy averaging $10 million a season who never wanted to sit and who responded to every infield bouncer off his bat with an all-out 30-yard dash to first base.
Such a player is not a cancer in the clubhouse; he's a catalyst in the clubhouse.
The Pirates needed more players such as Kendall, Giles and Williams, not fewer.
Look at what these so-called cancers are doing today.
Kendall is catching and batting first for the Oakland Athletics, the hottest team in baseball. The Athletics and Kendall got off to slow starts and his many critics loved it. But Oakland is 28-7 since June 17 and going into last night was in first place in the American League wild-card standings.
After a slow start, Kendall is batting .277. More to the point, his on-base percentage going into games of yesterday was .394. Among leadoff hitters with more than 175 at bats, that's second in the majors to Brian Roberts of Baltimore. Kendall's on-base percentage was 11 points higher than Johnny Damon's, 15 points higher than Derek Jeter's and 43 points higher than Ichiro Suzuki's.
In the criticism of Kendall, it was suggested he couldn't or didn't want to handle a pitching staff. How does that explain Oakland's June earned run average of 2.45, which was first in the American League, or its July ERA of 3.66, also first in the AL?
Giles quietly remains one of the most effective offensive players in the National League and is a major reason the San Diego Padres are in first place in the National League West Division. Among outfielders, his on-base percentage of .433 was tops. He was fourth in OPS (on-base plus slugging), which is the greatest statistical barometer of a player's offensive value.
There's a lot of talk these days about the Pirates' recent infusion of youth and with it the suggestion that because these players were on winning teams in the minors it bodes well for the club's future.
That's nonsense. Minor-league victories don't translate into major-league equivalents. If they did, the emphasis in the minors would be on winning and not development.
If this youth movement generates winning seasons in the future, it won't be because Chris Duffy is being enthusiastic about the game or because Zach Duke has been a winner throughout his career.
It will be because they're good players. Talent trumps everything -- even clubhouse cancers.
(Bob Smizik can be reached at bsmizik@post-gazette.com.)
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