Baseball Musings: Shea Released

July 20, 2006

Shea Released

Shea Hillenbrand's tirade earned him his release last night.

The Blue Jays held a meeting before Wednesday night's 5-4 loss to Texas. Hillenbrand, reached by the Toronto Star during the game, said manager John Gibbons admonished him in front of the team.
"Gibby called a team meeting and then he stood up and reamed me out in front of my teammates," Hillenbrand told the newspaper. "I'm very disappointed about what he did and I find it very unprofessional."

Hillenbrand was designated for assignment during the game, wasn't in the dugout and left before the game ended.

As pointed out last night, there's an obvious new home for the player. Will San Diego make a trade, or will the wait ten days and pick up Shea cheap?

The team meeting didn't help, as Texas came back with four runs in the seventh inning to take a 5-4 victory.

Update: The Toronto Star talks to Hillenbrand and gets his side of the story:

The context behind yesterday's blow-up apparently stretches back two months to another confrontation between Hillenbrand and the manager that took place in late May. Toronto had just been swept on the road by the Colorado Rockies, with Hillenbrand sitting out all three games played in the National League park.
Shortly after the team's return to Toronto, Hillenbrand said he went to the manager's office at the Rogers Centre to ask him for more playing time. Things apparently got heated and Hillenbrand said Gibbons "reamed him out'' in private.

"He was claiming that I'm a cancer to my teammates, that I'm a coward,'' Hillenbrand said. "He said that my teammates were all laughing at me and that they think I'm a joke.

"He said he was washing his hands of me right then and there and that he was done with me,'' he said. "He said he didn't want anything more to do with me but have me show up and win ballgames for him.''

For two months, player and manager apparently cut off all lines of communication.

Someone deserves to be put in the baseball jerks category for his whole affair, I'm just not sure which one. If Hillenbrand's side of the story is right, Gibbons is a pretty nasty guy. I wonder once again why these Moneyball GMs don't hire better managers.

Posted by David Pinto at 08:07 AM | Transactions | TrackBack (0)

Comments

shae and his new baby are more than welcome in philly!

Posted by: Tim at July 20, 2006 09:24 AM

I don't know much about Gibbons, but I do know about the acrimony surrounding Hillenbrand's departure from Boston. It involved a parting shot at Theo Epstein that, shall we say, questioned either his masculinity or his sexual orientation...

...that said, the players who have commented (i.e., Catalanotto, Wells) seem to sympathize with Hillenbrand, so perhaps the accusations have some veracity?

The Jays don't need him if he's not producing on offense, and he's a defensive liability; thus, his freefalling OPS combined with this incident makes it less of a shocking move than it might be otherwise.

Perhaps they've been unsuccessfully trying to trade him? It is interesting that the Castilla release occurred on the same day this happened, though.

Hinske will get more PT at 3b, and it's not like the Jays don't have options at DH (Reed Johnson might be the primary beneficiary there).

Posted by: douglas at July 20, 2006 09:29 AM

Having 2 solid platoons (LF, C) and Hinkse makes for a nice bat at DH each night. Sure the loss of his bat will hurt the offense but not that much. We just need Glaus and Rios back soon.

Last night, Glaus was on deck in case Aaron Hill got on base. Down by 1, would have been key. But Hill grounded out so we will never know if Glaus is good to go or just calling the closers bluff.

Posted by: Andrew at July 20, 2006 10:32 AM

Castilla? Umm... you'd have to be crazy (or desperate) to let Shea play the hot corner. He was a below average fielder in Boston and the stats say it's been down hill from there. E.g. for 2006, he has the lowest ZR of anyone who's played at least 20 innings at 3B (he's played 122 innings). If I'm the SD GM, I'd stick with Bellhorn. Offense (in terms of OPS) ain't much worse, and at least he's a decent fielder @ 3B.

Posted by: Jason at July 20, 2006 10:42 AM

As a professional Blue Jays fan, I think Shea can play 3B or 1B but it isn't what I would call gold glove defense. Even if he's 'in the game' he's still a lathargic fielder... I've seen pitch backs with more drive than that guy once the season gets going.

3 weeks after he signs with a new team, the OPS is under 750 and he's complaining about something.

Posted by: Andrew at July 20, 2006 10:57 AM

The .821 OPS will get him a try somewhere. As for who's being a jerk, who knows? This year the Jays gave Hillenbrand 5.8 million, 319 PA's and time off for the adoption, so his whines about bad treatment by the club do seem a little overdone.

Posted by: Casey Abell at July 20, 2006 11:18 AM

Padres third basemen are hitting a combined .231/.274/.333 this season. Is that desperate enough?

Posted by: Geoff Young at July 20, 2006 12:29 PM

IF (a big "if") Hillenbrand's allegations about what Gibbons told him are true, then it significantly modifies my view of his actions, without excusing them altogether (there are better, more dignified ways to get his side of the story out). Gibbons seems like a real [insert expletive here], even if Hillenbrand is a hothead himself.

This is completely independent of any questions concerning his value as a player and a fielder. From what I've seen of him (not that much), he has a rather lethargic quality to his defensive play, but he's not a stoneglove like some I've seen. I suspect the Pads will snap him up, keeping Bellhorn around as a late-inning defensive substitution.

Posted by: Jeff B. at July 20, 2006 12:52 PM

Don't forget Hillenbrand's parting shot on the radio at Theo when he left Boston (I won't dignify it by repeating it here, but you can likely find it somewhere else). Not exactly the classiest guy in the MLB...

Posted by: Mike at July 20, 2006 01:41 PM

Given some of the reports I've seen about this incident, Jeff B. seems to be on the right track. If there was ever a situtation where both parties are at fault, it's this one. From what I've read, Hillenbrand was acting like a complete jerk (no surprise given his history, as several have mentioned, including his constant griping about playing time this year), and Gibbons completely overreacted and hung his player out in front of the rest of the team.

Posted by: David Dean at July 20, 2006 02:02 PM

By the way, I think Shea and the Yankees deserve each other.

Posted by: David Dean at July 20, 2006 02:03 PM

July 20 eve ESPN sports radio rep stated that he never before heard of a mgr challenging a player to fight. In 1954 new Bklyn Dodger mgr Walt Alston challenged Jackie Robinson to fight after Jackie questioned Alston's managing. Alston was bigger than Robinson & Jackie declined the fight offer. They tolerated one another after that and won Bklyn's first WS in 1955.

Posted by: Bob at July 20, 2006 09:39 PM

pinella v dibble anyone? who didn't the manager start that?

Posted by: Tim at July 21, 2006 09:18 AM

Re: Jason: "I'm a professional Blue Jay fan"

I wish someone would pay me to be a fan.

Posted by: Dave at July 21, 2006 09:39 AM