Honestly, there is a lot about Dallas Green that is easy to dislike. He’s brusque and curt kind of like Grandpa Simpson, though, sometimes, Green has a handle on reality. His criticisms of Scott Rolen nearly five seasons ago were ridiculous, just as his rip job on Charlie Manuel last summer was deserving of what the manager wanted said he wanted to do to Green.
Sometimes Big D can be a big joke, like poking a crazy old bear with a stick just to make it angry and do something crazy.
But to be fair, sometimes Green is right on the money. In fact, it’s reasonable to say that without Dallas Green the Phillies could still be looking for that first World Series title.
Green, of course, is in the sports news again for something he said. This time his remarks were directed at much-maligned slugger Pat Burrell, but different from the case with Rolen, Green was dead-on accurate.
In Jim Salisbury’s (how does he always get all of those tremendous quotes?) dispatch from sunny Disney World where the Winter Meetings are being held this week, Dallas took Burrell to task saying that the so-called “Midnight Mayor of Philadelphia” shouldn’t seek another term in office. Instead, Green says, Burrell needs to focus on being the best baseball player he can be before it’s too late.
Says Green is Sully’s story:
”It's time for Pat to look in the mirror,” Green, an adviser to general manager Pat Gillick, said in the lobby of Disney's Swan and Dolphin Resort yesterday. “His career is really at a crossroads.
“He's got to focus and get a priority. That's No. 1 on the list. He's got to become a baseball player and want to be a contributor and want to be the Pat Burrell that we all anticipated he was going to be when we signed him as a kid. He's 30 years old. Damn, time is slipping by here.”
And:
“I think Pat's going to have a hell of a year [in 2007],” Green said. “But it's up to him. He has to recognize where his career is. I like the kid an awful lot. I always have. I talk to him all the time. I tell him, ‘You've got to get your act together and know what your priorities are.’ ”
Dallas is right on the money. He hit the bull’s eye. Life, as they say, is short. Baseball careers are even shorter. At the current rate, Burrell probably has three years, tops, to make something of his career before the inevitable descent into mediocrity. However, there still is time for him to push back the aging process if Burrell acts quickly. Actually, he should have gotten the message when he was 26 or 27 when he discovered he wasn’t bouncing back as well from day to day. That’s when a choice had to be made.
But giving up the so-called perks of being a Major Leaguer is probably a difficult thing to do.
Again, from Salisbury’s story:
Not that this makes him a bad guy, but Burrell has a reputation for enjoying the Philadelphia nightlife.
“Probably well-earned,” Green said. “I've been out with him a couple times in Florida. We have a secret [watering] hole every now and then.
“There's nothing wrong with that. There are tons of guys in the Hall of Fame that were like that.
“It's neat to have money, it's neat to have good looks, and it's neat to have broads all over you. Every place I've managed, I've talked to kids about the same thing. It's a hell of a life. But there comes a time in every player's life when he needs to get his act together.”
It’s not up there with, “Practice, man… we’re talkin’ ‘bout practice… ”, but Green’s money quote is a real doozy. But then again, Green is the only man to win a World Series as the manager of the Phillies and is rumored to have stopped Ed Wade and the gang from hiring Darren Daulton as the team’s manager over Larry Bowa.
How much fun would it have been if he hadn’t?
Anyway, the onus, as they say, is on Burrell for 2007. That’s a good thing. They say an animal that’s cornered will do one of two things – fight or roll over and reveal it’s soft, rounded belly.
Here’s betting that Burrell will fight.