Earlier this week Ian Kinsler made some pointed comments towards the Texas Rangers and their General Manager, Jon Daniels. Kinsler called Daniels a “sleazeball” and wished a 0-162 season upon his former running mates. Kinsler’s days in Texas seemed to be nearing an end towards last year, and that was confirmed in his comments.
During that time, it was well-known throughout the game that there was a power struggle going on between Nolan Ryan and Jon Daniels, who had acquired the title of president of baseball operations last March in a front office restructuring that ultimately led to Ryan’s departure after the season. Kinsler squarely blames the man who traded him.
“Daniels is a sleazeball,” he says. “He got in good with the owners and straight pushed Ryan out. He thought all the things he should get credit for, Ryan got credit for. It’s just ego. Once we went to the World Series, everybody’s ego got huge, except for Nolan’s.”
He also went on to say –
“To be honest with you, I hope they go 0-162,” Kinsler said on the topic of his former team. “I got friends, and I love my friends, but I hope they lose their (explicit).”
Whoa! Ian Kinsler is obviously a little bitter about how the trade went down and what the Rangers had asked of him during his later years in Texas. Apparently they had asked him to move to first base to make room for Jurickson Profar, to which Kinsler told them no.
The Rangers had also asked him to take on more of a leadership role after they traded Michael Young. I have watched Kinser from afar for a few years and I think its pretty easy to tell he is not the type of player who is going to lead his teammates in a positive way. He is a gritty player who gets down on himself more than he should and will always feel like he has something to prove. Kinser was a 17th round draft pick who worked his way up from the bottom.
With that being said, I don’t really blame Kinsler for his comments at all. He is an established big leaguer who felt like he was being pushed out of Texas, I mean Kinsler didn’t even hear about the trade from his own General Manager (Daniels), as Kinsler said he was told of the trade via a text from a Rangers broadcaster. That right there is enough to prove that the relationship between Kinsler, the Rangers and Daniels was so badly broken that something had to be done.
The bottom line is all of this however, is that Ian Kinsler has to be a better player than what he was in Texas last year. He has been on a steady decline over the past few years and will have to rebound rather quickly in Detroit. When Prince Fielder was traded it was a relief to many Tigers fans based on his care free attitude, but he was a productive player and Kinsler is going to have a hard time living up to the fact that he got traded straight up for Fielder. Also Tiger fans may also sour quickly on Kinsler and his ‘me first’ attitude. Let us not forget that the best player in the game, Miguel Cabrera, moved from 1st to 3rd to accommodate his team when Prince first joined the Tigers. The Tigers are for the most part not a selfish team, I’m not saying Kinsler is selfish, but he should take note from Cabrera and his attitude towards the game and his team.
Kinsler had a somewhat down year based on his standards in 2013, he had a slash line of .277, .344, .413 and posted a 2.5 WAR. He scored 85 runs, drove in 72 and had 15 steals. Kinsler posted a 105 wRC+. Those numbers are all fine and dandy until you dive in a little bit deeper. One of the biggest downfalls people have when talking about Kinsler is how often he pops the ball up. I was almost shocked when I looked for myself.
In 2013, Kinsler had a 35.3 ground ball % and a 47.1 fly ball %, more importantly his infield fly ball % was 14.4 proving that Kinsler pops out, a lot. And apparently he pops out in the infield at a mind numbing rate that will certainly not be accepted in Detroit. To further impact how much of a struggle it was for Kinsler in 2013, the fine folks at www.baseballheatmaps.com put together a chart showing the batted ball distance leaders for the season. Of all the players that qualified, Kinser was ranked 257th on the list in batted ball distance, behind the likes of Jed Lowrie, Gordon Bechkam and Lonnie Chisenhall. Not a list that Tigers fans will find amusing.
In closing, Ian Kinsler has the right to say what he wants. He is a member of the Detroit Tigers now and has every right to speak about a team that he feels certainly did him wrong in the off season. I don’t find his comments offensive or think that they will be an issue with the Tigers, however he will certainly have to put up or shut up from this point on. The pressure will be on Kinsler this year to produce like he did in years past for the Rangers. Kinsler is obviously a very motivated player, which in the end could certainly be a huge blessing for the Tigers.
Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow me on Twitter – @JDDub15. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter –@LastWordOnSport – and “liking” our Facebook page.
Interested in writing for LWOS? We are looking for enthusiastic, talented writers to join our Baseball writing team. Visit our “Write for Us” page for very easy details in how you can get started today!
