It's no secret: The Los Angeles Angels were thrilled to get rid of Josh Hamilton and all that goes with him. It's also no secret that if any team can harness Hamilton's talent and maximize it, despite all of his demons, it's undoubtedly the Rangers.
But before Hamilton plays a game with Texas in his second stint with the team, he's already making plenty of headlines back in Los Angeles, the market he left under so much scrutiny, more perhaps than he even did when he left Texas following the 2012 season to sign that stupid, big contract with the Angels.
In his press conference welcoming him back to Texas, Hamilton said some more stupid stuff, but it was what he didn't say that rubbed Angels manager Mike Scioscia the wrong way.
“Just hearing some of his comments, the one thing that I think is sad, and I’m a little bit disappointed in, is the fact that there wasn’t any accountability, most importantly, to his teammates,” Scioscia told the Los Angeles Times of Hamilton, who was either injured or slumping for much of his two seasons in Anaheim. “If you look at how much support he got when he was struggling, whatever was happening ... no one ever questioned Josh’s work ethic and him wanting to play well. I know he got a lot of support from the guys in that clubhouse. For him not to show at least a little remorse toward his teammates I just think is wrong.”
Hamilton not only showed no remorse, he took no responsibility for his lackluster play and his third known drug and alcohol relapse since his return to baseball with the Rangers — 2009, 2012 and this year.
"(Angels owner Arte Moreno) knew what the deal was when he signed me," Hamilton said. "He knew what the risks were.”
It's not what you want to hear, especially if you're Scioscia, and it's easy to understand why he's upset, even if you love watching the Angels second-guess themselves.
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It's going to be really interesting to see the first time Hamilton meets his former team as a member of his other former team for the first time. So mark your calendars for July 4th weekend when the Angels come to town. It's going to be interesting, and at that point, we might be scratching and clawing for any reason at all to watch this team.
