K-Rod: "Baseball Is Not As Fun..."

Mets All Star closer, Francisco Rodriguez, mentioned in an article byKevin Baxter - LA Times today that since his free agency this winter, baseball isn't fun, it's a business.

K-Rod laments, "It's not sad," he says, looking sad. "But it makes you realize a lot of things." What has made him appear upset, is that the Angels never made a true offer to Rodriguez during the winter. Granted, Rodriguez expected to earn more that the 3 year $37M he finally received from the Mets, but although he says  differently, he seems hurt that the Angels seemed disinterested in him.

To the Angels credit, they were honest and straight forward with K-Rod, citing that they were looking to sign Mark Teixeira first, then they would look at the closer role. Ultimately, when Rodriguez signed with the Mets, the Angels turned to Brian Fuentes, who presently leads MLB with 26 saves (K-Rod has 23 saves). K-Rod was hurt. It was the Angels that signed him as a 17 year old out of the slums of Caracas, Venezuela. For that, Rodriguez is forever grateful, "They gave me the opportunity, and I respect them a lot and I really care about that. . . . I still have people there that I care about. And they treated me well, I can't deny that."

One can wonder if this will sour Frankie, which will ultimately affect his play, which K-Rod dismisses,  "Now you're not playing for fun, you're playing for your career. Pretty much you're an employee. Sometimes you don't want to see it that way. But that's pretty much the reality.

"The day you don't get the job done the day you get hurt, the day you, basically, [don't] do what they ask you to do, they're going to throw you away and they're going to get somebody else to do your job. That's how it is."