Astros Players Campaign for Sidney Ponson

Good pitching is hard to come by these days -- and if you're the Rangers, merely adequate pitching is just as rare. Nevertheless, GM Jon Daniels considered Sidney Ponson such a distraction that not even Ponson's 3.88 ERA could save him from being released. That should set off a few red flags, no? Apparently not in Houston. From Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle:

[A] few Astros players asked me to strongly encourage the Astros to sign Ponson. I don't usually like to do the players' bidding, but heck, I need a blog entry. So here we go.

"We need that guy," one friend of Ponson's said. "We could use him. He's a good teammate."

Would you mind if the Astros signed Ponson? Keep in mind that he must have really, really screwed up for the Rangers to designate him for assignment. [...] But if Ed Wade or Drayton McLane or Cecil Cooper polled their clubhouse, they'd find some guys who would offer huge endorsements for Ponson as a player, a competitor and even as a person.

Yes, that's right: "Ponson" and "good teammate" were used in the same sentence, and apparently not in an ironic manner. Is he worth the risk?

Considering Daniels was tight-lipped in regards to what specifically led to Ponson's dismissal -- the explanation that Ponson "had disrespectful and adverse reactions to situations that were unbecoming of a teammate" could mean just about anything -- all I can go by is Ponson's actual performance.

Hiding behind that 3.88 ERA are some unsightly indicators, namely, his 1.56 WHIP and .307 batting average allowed. The guy's been hit hard this year, he's just had some uncanny luck in keeping all those base-runners from crossing home plate. Daniels can say he let Ponson for being a bad teammate, but he probably also suspects that Ponson's been a ticking time bomb who's likely to explode any day know. It's like blackjack: the longer you play, the more likely the house takes your money. But cutting him loose after a nice run means walking away with a profit.