A Role for Kim

[Frobby]

He earned it over the course of ten seasons on the field.

He earned his contract, obviously. That doesn't earn him playing time. He was what, 0 for 24 before he finally got a hit? And more than that, he wasn't hitting the ball hard at all. So Buck didn't think he deserved to start the year on the 25 man roster, from a merit point of view, and they asked him to consent to starting at AAA. I don't see the big crime there. Kim had the right to withhold his consent, but it's not like the Orioles were breaching his contract by asking for it. And it's not like they had some personal vendetta against Kim. They simply weren't impressed by what they'd seen. Obviously Kim came around, but I can understand why they didn't think he was ready to perform well in the majors based on how he looked. And yes I realize 24 AB (plus intrasquad, BP, drills, etc.)'are not a lot, but when you're not just getting bad results but looking badly overmatched, 24 AB (plus the other stuff) can be a reasonable basis for judgment.

Nor do I think it's a crime that they stopped playing him towards the end of ST, when they had other guys they wanted to prepare for the season. That's a manager's perogative.

So was it all handled perfectly? No, but I'm tired of people acting like Kim was tarred and feathered and paraded around the public square. He's proven he can play, he's playing, and I don't know why this is dredged up every other day.