Earlier, Craig wrote about Rays first baseman Logan Morrison’s displeasure with Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez’s inclusion in the 2017 Home Run Derby. Morrison said, “Gary shouldn’t be there. Gary’s a great player, but he shouldn’t be in the Home Run Derby.” He added, “I remember when I had 14 home runs. That was a month and a half ago.”
Sanchez has “only” 13 home runs, but he’s also only played in 53 games and come to the plate 225 times. Prorated over Morrison’s 325 PA, Sanchez would have a more respectable total of 19 homers. Still five shy of Morrison’s 24 dingers, but well within the range of other Derby participants. Of course, there’s no minimum total that a player must reach to merit inclusion; it’s simply about reputation and marketing, as Craig mentioned.
Sanchez responded to Morrison on Wednesday afternoon. Via ESPN, he said through an interpreter, “It’s not my fault he didn’t get selected.” He added, “What can I say? They gave me a call, gave me an invitation to participate.”
Additionally, Sanchez noted that he said he would only participate in the Derby if he made the American League All-Star roster. He said, “I told them, ‘I don’t even know if I’m making the All-Star Game.’ If I make the All-Star Game then for sure I’ll do it. It’s an honor to participate in the event. It’s not my fault he didn’t get selected. Like I said before, I’m just happy to participate and it will be an honor to be part of it.”
Morrison has never been one to keep his thoughts to himself. When he returned from the disabled list in May 2011, he warned people to “Hide ur wives & (hot) daughters” [sic]. Just a few weeks later, he criticized Giants executive VP of baseball operations Brian Sabean for comments made following the infamous Scott Cousins/Buster Posey collision, suggesting that Sabean’s opinions were valueless because he never played in the big leagues. Morrison also said that Posey, who had been screening phone calls from Cousins, was being “very immature and unprofessional.”
Following that, the Marlins fired then-hitting coach John Mallee. Morrison criticized the decision. Two months later, Morrison criticized then-teammate Hanley Ramirez, suggesting he could never be a team leader because he was often injured. Morrison said, “He’s not there every game. It’s 162 games. It’s not a 100-game season.” Morrison had called out Ramirez earlier that season as well for arriving to the ballpark late.
In 2012, Morrison tweeted his misogynistic disapproval of public breastfeeding. Sportswriter Jay Jaffe called him out and Morrison responded with the same sentiment with which he spoke to Sabean, dismissing Jaffe because he’s never played in the big leagues. In 2013, Morrison tweeted that celebrity Rachael Ray’s attractiveness was contingent on whether or not she was cooking. In 2014, Morrison tweeted that he was jealous of Native Americans because they don’t pay land taxes.
So, yeah, we can take anything that comes out of Morrison’s mouth with a grain of salt. And good on Sanchez for not getting into a drawn out public back-and-forth with Morrison. There’s an old adage about playing with pigs in mud.
