Is This the End of the Line for Ross Gload?

by RoyalsRetro on Feb 14, 2012 12:30 PM EST

Spring training begins in less than a week and among the unsigned remaining free agents is former Royals great Ross Gload.

Gload, age 35, hit .257/.276/.327 for the Phillies last year, although his grit and moxie no doubt helped them to a division title. He was still useful as of 2010, when he posted a 114 OPS+, almost exclusively as a pinch-hitter. He is still a great glove man, and by my best estimates, he tallied over 173 Ron Polk Points last year.*

*-I did not tally these stats per se, but it feels like he had that many.

So why are teams passing on Gload? Is he waiting for the right offer? Or is he being blackballed?

Gload has made over $7.4 million in his Major League career, over $3 million of that with the Royals. I'm sure he has the luxury of sitting back in his mansion and waiting for the right offer, but I still want to see Gload explode for a contender.

Poll

What team could use a slap-hitting first baseman with grit and moxie?

Atlanta Braves

6 votes

Kansas City Royals

12 votes

St. Louis Cardinals

15 votes

Nippon Ham Fighters

31 votes

64 votes | Poll has closed

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Long Island Ducks

by Gopherballs on Feb 14, 2012 12:40 PM EST reply actions

John Donne said something like:

“Every man’s death diminishes me, so ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.”

It’s all over for Gload. He will never explode. He was always by far the best jock in his class and everywhere else he went—until he arrived in MLB. Then he was one of the worst, and he had trouble hanging on until now.

I wouldn’t sign him, even to a minor league contract, because he’s just not quite a big league player, and there’s no reason to waste time and money on him when there are so many young players out there.

Kind of sad when a guy runs out of rope. Well, he had fun, and got to play in the big leagues and make a ton of money, so I don’t feel sorry for him in real life, but too bad about his dream.

"That fucking fucker of a general swears too fucking much." --Unnamed soldier about Gen. George Patton, 1943

by Juancho on Feb 14, 2012 12:58 PM EST reply actions