12/19/2006

Fan Reaction to the trade

Okay, last post on the Vidro for Snelling and Fruto trade.

U.S.S. Mariner has this about Snelling:

Chris Snelling was a great reason to be a Mariner fan. He had a good eye on a team of free swingers, he played hard. He was a young, promising hitter in an organization led by declining veterans winding their careers down. He was weird, and cool, and he worked harder to get to the major leagues than almost anyone else. His interviews were funny and a little spacey, he answered stock questions in strange ways, and he’d go back to Australia and hike around the outback, eating beans, because the urge took him. He was likable in a way that few players are, because he was so open and genuine, even though it meant that a lot of his press went straight for the novelty angle.

You could really cheer for Snelling. And in his success and setbacks, there was a lot to cheer for. He would get healthy, tear it up, and then go down. His debut was followed almost immediately by a season-ending, career-threatening injury. His comebacks came with setbacks and, eventually, other career-threatening injuries. But he would not be denied.


Capitol Punishment offers these closing thoughts on Vidro:
It's a shame that we never saw the real Jose Vidro. The broken-down singles hitter we saw bore no resemblance to the actual player. I'm too young to remember it, but the stories you hear about an ancient Willie Mays stumbling around the outfield of Shea Stadium seems an apt parallel. That's not to say that Vidro was anything close to Mays. He wasn't. But he was a pretty damn good player. We just didn't see it.

There is a quick note in there about how Vidro played for Burlington of the Midwest League in 1993.

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