6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog: Evolution: How A Salmon Almost Became A Snake

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Sunday, March 07, 2004

Evolution: How A Salmon Almost Became A Snake

Richard Dawkins has spent much of his career explaining evolutionary biology in such a way as to make it comprehensible to ordinary folk, as well as taking the scientific world by storm. But even he would be surprised to see such a rapid change as when a (Tim) Salmon (and Arizona native) nearly became a Diamondback:

Before the 2001 season, the Diamondbacks were looking for help in right field.
"As much as I wanted to stay here with one club, that was weighing on me," said Salmon, a former Greenway High School and Grand Canyon University standout who resides with wife Marci and four children in the same Valley neighborhood as Diamondbacks left fielder Luis Gonzalez. " . . . I had a lot of family and friends waiting for me to come home and play."
But Salmon received a four-year contract extension, and the Angels finished third in the American League West. The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, signed Reggie Sanders, who slugged 33 home runs as the Diamondbacks made their championship run.
Salmon, 35, admitted he did some deep thinking after the Diamondbacks won the 2001 World Series.
"For a little while, I was asking myself what could have been," Salmon said. "But to come back the next year and do it the way we did it with that club, it's ultimately the greatest satisfaction.

Phew. This from a guy that Bill James ranked 72nd all time in his Historical Baseball Abstract in right field:

An old-fashioned hard-hat kind of player, good arm, not too much speed, works hard and rarely goes into a slump. Ninety walks a year and a .290 average give him an on-base percentage near .400. Has gone over 200 this season (2000) and will probably hit a couple hundred more before the fastballs get too fast for him.

Of course, that was 2000. He proceeded to have a simply awful (for him) 2001, and thought about hanging it up shortly into 2002 when the team struggled early.

Salmon is in my mind an archetypal Angel, a quiet, no-nonsense guy who shows up to the park to get his job done. It's pretty obvious, to me at least, that his career is sloping downward faster than James thought four years ago; later in the Arizona Republic article, Salmon questions whether he'll finish his contract. Well, Tim, here's to a productive end.

// posted by Rob @ 8:11 AM link // 0 comments