Josh Hamilton spent the first part of the season playing like a baseball god and the cries for the Rangers to sign the impending free agent to a contract extension were loud. Now he’s in a massive slump and is being booed at home, and both he and Rangers manager Ron Washington have hinted that there is something serious going on with the slugger.
First came Hamilton’s cryptic comments over the weekend after he began the home stand 1-for-14.
“When the time is right, I’ll be honest with you, you’ll be right in the loop,” Hamilton said, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “I’ve been shown a lot of things over the past week. There’s disobedience and there’s obedience to God. I’ve been being disobedient. It may be a small thing to you, but it’s a big thing to him. There’s consequences. It’s like a father and a kid. There are disciplines. You guys can chew on that and think about it.”
There’s a lot of mystery with those comments. Ron Washington was unable to fill in more details, though he did confirm the existence of some issues.
“The issues is something that I think Josh would definitely have to be the one to expose,” Washington told The Ben & Skin Show on KSPN. “It’s certainly not physical. It has nothing to do with injuries. Josh is the one that made the statement and got all the inquiries going, and I think Josh is the one that has to put a rest to the inquiries, not Ron Washington. I can just tell you one thing: It is not because he’s hurt.”
Hamilton had an alcohol-related relapse in February, so there has been speculation that the former addict is using drugs and/or alcohol again. Others have wondered if his problems are family-related and if he is going through a divorce. Both guesses sound like they could be possible, and they’re not necessarily independent.
H/T Hardball Talk
