Feb. 5, 2010GIANTS PAGE
As a member of the Bay Area baseball media, I'm partly responsible for having failed you miserably last season. How so? By not putting Jeremy Affeldt squarely in the spotlight.I just finished interviewing Affeldt for CSN Bay Area's Giants season preview show, and I came away astounded by the fact that he isn't already a media star. Confident, direct, colorful, and insightful, Affeldt is everything you want a professional athlete to be.Not only does he perform at the highest level, having been named the set-up man of the year in 2009, but he's the kind of guy who will tell you what's going on, why it's going on and what makes it compelling.We touched upon a number of topics during our chat, including his role as the set-up man and whether he has the goal of eventually becoming a closer. And while he'd certainly be open to the opportunity of someday closing games, he not only understands the importance of a set-up man's role but embraces it and is more than willing to let his own closer, Brian Wilson, take the lion's share of the credit when the Giants win.That's not to say he doesn't think he wouldn't thrive in the closer's role. But for now, as a member of the Giants, he knows he's exactly where the team needs him to be and it's not a cliche when he says he really is all about the team. He's believable, he's interesting and he's entertaining and if I have anything to do with it, you will not be failed in 2010. Jeremy Affeldt is on the verge of stardom as a player, and over the next six months you'll see that he's a star in every other way.
What's your take? Email Mychael and let him know. He may use it in his weekly Mailbag.
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