“I didn’t really want to wait because I felt so good about Cincinnati,” he said on a conference call Tuesday.
The idea of waiting in traffic on the way to Dodger Stadium didn’t appeal to Schumaker, either. His carpool buddy, Nick Punto, had just signed with the Oakland A’s on Nov. 13. That mattered.
“I didn’t know who was coming back,” Schumaker said. “I didn’t know what coaches were coming back, which players. My friends were signing elsewhere – especially Nick Punto – becoming free agents.”
Dan Haren had been a free agent before. This time, the pitcher had help from Zack Greinke, his teammate with the Angels late in the 2012 season.
“I kind of talked to (Greinke) throughout the whole process,” said Haren, who finalized a one-year deal with the Dodgers on Monday. “He said the team is amazing. … It’s nice coming into a situation where there’s a familiar guy.”
This principle is nothing new, but it was interesting to see it work both for and against the Dodgers in the span of two days.
Schumaker’s contract with the Cincinnati Reds was widely reported last week and became official Tuesday. Mark Sheldon of MLB.com reported that Schumaker will make $2 million in 2014, $2.5 million in 2015 and there is a $2.5 million club option for 2016 with a $500,000 buyout.
Apparently the Dodgers weren’t that interested in bringing him back.
“They had so many things going on initially,” Schumaker said, “I felt I was maybe on the back burner.”
Some bullet points for a Thanksgiving/Hanukkah weekend. These will be the last until Monday:
Continue reading “Daily Distractions: How relationships made a difference for Skip Schumaker, Dan Haren.” »