Rangers DFA Ponson

[wickedwitch]

The Texas Rangers have cut ties with Sidney Ponson for what GM Jon Daniels called "disrespectful and adverse reactions to situations unbecoming of teammates." He has officially been designated for assignment. The club has 10 days to trade or release him.

http://rangersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/06/texas-rangers-cut-ties-with-sidney-ponso.html

Ha hahahaha. :rofl: :mwahaha:

[orayole]

I guess some people never change.

[Moose Milligan]

Gotta wonder how many more chances he'll get.

I guess if the Texas Rangers are looking at you for pitching help, you've been pretty much picked over by everyone else....

Interesting post in one of the replies to the article...who knows if this is true, but whatever:

I have a source inside the clubhouse who said that after the game he was cussing the players, coaches and GM aloud. He was angry that he was forced to pitch on three days rest, and the errors set him off. He said, allegedly, that Daniels had his head up his arse and that Wash couldn't coach his way out of a wet sack with a machete...I'm using a cleaner version.

Needless to say, he teed off M-Young, J-Ham, Milt and others.

Teeing off on Michael Young and Josh Hamilton, two of the best hitters in the league...

...Ponson: EPIC FAIL!

[Dr. FLK]

He's 4-1 with 3.88 ERA....I say we pick him up!

[TakebackOPACY]

Here's the mlb.com article.

Ponson Designated for Assignment

team sources said Ponson was put on notice after a creating a serious disturbance at the hotel bar in St. Petersburg during the team's last road trip. He was told that further problems would not be tolerated.

Two more incidents occurred this week...

[Mad Mark]

Reading deeper into the comments attached to the blog entry, it seems Sir Sidney may have been involved in a clubhouse punchup. There must be (as usual) large amounts of information we're not getting here...starting with: why do you make a guy with known (or at least suspected) elbow problems pitch on three days rest for the first time in his career? If Padilla is on bereavement leave, and Millwood can't pitch for whatever reason, why not bring up a kid from AAA to make the start, and let Ponson pitch in turn?

I call Soviet-style shenanigans on the information we're receiving on this.

[RShack]

I call Soviet-style shenanigans on the information we're receiving on this.

Could be.

But if there's anybody who I'm not gonna worry about being treated unfairly, it's Sidney.

I generally don't believe in grudges and don't hold grudges, but for Sidney I make a special exception.

If anybody gets TASS'd, it's fine with me if it's him.

(I realize this is a bad attitude towards my fellow man. I usually try to be a good person. But in the case of Sidney, I don't.)

[Mary1966]

Reading deeper into the comments attached to the blog entry, it seems Sir Sidney may have been involved in a clubhouse punchup. There must be (as usual) large amounts of information we're not getting here...starting with: why do you make a guy with known (or at least suspected) elbow problems pitch on three days rest for the first time in his career? If Padilla is on bereavement leave, and Millwood can't pitch for whatever reason, why not bring up a kid from AAA to make the start, and let Ponson pitch in turn?

I call Soviet-style shenanigans on the information we're receiving on this.

Now it's being reported that Michael Young has a bruised finger, allegedly as the result of dropping a exercise weight on it. I think it's possible he and Sidney got into it, perhaps as a result of Young doing some horrible fielding in the game Sidney started on three days rest. And since Young is the franchise and Sidney is not, guess who wins that argument.

[Gurgi]

Reading more into it. Ponson caused a disturbance at a bar. The guy shouldnt even be in a bar with the history he has. I guess they figure he is off the wagon and it would get real bad from this point on.

[Palmer Esque]

Reading more into it. Ponson caused a disturbance at a bar. The guy shouldnt even be in a bar with the history he has. I guess they figure he is off the wagon and it would get real bad from this point on.

Yeah really, it is sad but him and bars should not be in the same sentence. It is sad because when he first came up he looked like he had the makings of a star.

Too bad he is a knucklehead who has a drinking problem. I hope he turns his life around, but to be honest....how many more teams will be willing to take a chance on him?

It is ironic that he WAS ACTUALLY PITCHING WELL, but blew it because he is just plain stupid. Fielders make errors behind pitchers all the time, and Ponson had no right to call out the guys who are basically the franchise.

Rediculous, and this guy is a black eye for baseball. Send him UPS style back to Aruba, where he can sit on the beach all day and flirt with tourists and drink coladas all day.

[Mad Mark]

I know I'm walking a lonely path here, but my sympathy level for Ponson seems to be exponentially higher than anybody else's on the board.

I feel that--to an extent--the Orioles share some blame for Ponson's problems. They rushed in immature kid to the majors in 1998, and it appears that nobody (or at least, nobody right) took Ponson under his wing, and steered him in the right direction.

Pitching is such a scarce commodity that I suppose he'll get (yet) another chance. After all, he's not in Steve Howe territory...yet. I hope this doesn't send him back to the bottle (if he's been able to stay off.)

[PoorMike]

Josh Hamilton has a very strict lifestyle in order to keep sober. In addition to simply being insubordinate, I'm sure that having a alcoholic around is not want the Rangers think is in the best interests of JH's long term fiture.

[zff4]

Josh Hamilton has a very strict lifestyle in order to keep sober. In addition to simply being insubordinate, I'm sure that having a alcoholic around is not want the Rangers think is in the best interests of JH's long term fiture.

I think you got it here. The Rangers told Ponson he was on a "one-strike" limit and Ponson swung, and now he's gone. I'm impressed that they actually enforced it - how often do you hear, "We're a family, we don't approve of the player's behavior but we'll support him as he turns it around." Something for Hamilton to take note of indeed.

[RShack]

I know I'm walking a lonely path here, but my sympathy level for Ponson seems to be exponentially higher than anybody else's on the board.

I think that is a fair statement ;-

I feel that--to an extent--the Orioles share some blame for Ponson's problems. They rushed in immature kid to the majors in 1998, and it appears that nobody (or at least, nobody right) took Ponson under his wing, and steered him in the right direction.

That's ancient news. The guy has had about 10 Wake-up Calls, and he ignores them all.

Back when I used to work in psychiatric hospitals, I once worked on a unit with guys who were NGRI (not guilty by reason of insanity). For some of them, that absolutely fit: nothing wrong with them, they just went nuts once. One of them was the sweetest guy you'd ever meet, but his blood pressure went bonkers and he killed his insurance agent. But for others, there was a constant ongoing debate: Is this guy nuts? Or is he a MF-er? Often, the answer was "both": he's nuts *and* he's a MF'er. It's not always either/or. In Sidney's case, even if you make the argument that somebody could have intervened better when he was younger, so what? Now is now. There is absolutely no good reason why he hasn't paid attention to any of his many, many wake-up calls.

[weams]

http://rangersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/06/texas-rangers-cut-ties-with-sidney-ponso.html

Ha hahahaha. :rofl: :mwahaha:

I knew there was a number five out there on the heep for us :beerchug1: