A quick talking point coming out in the wake of Nelson Cruz deciding not to appeal his suspension is that he is being selfish:
Least surprising thing is that players accepted plea deals out of self-interest. They took the PEDs in the first place b/c of self-interest.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) August 5, 2013
For Cruz and Peralta self-interest, accepting the suspensions is a logical choice. They get suspension behind them going into free agency.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) August 5, 2013
Go search for “Cruz selfish” on Twitter to see hundreds of other similar comments.
As I mentioned before, yes, there is self-interest at play here. But are we really going to go down the “Nelson Cruz is selfish” rabbit hole here as a character judgment as opposed to merely a descriptor of motivations? I mean, you can go there if you want — it’s a free country — but I feel like doing so is likely to tie a person in knots.
A-Rod is appealing, as far as we know. He’s been widely described as selfish (among other things). Now Cruz is not appealing and he’s selfish too. Ryan Braun didn’t appeal his discipline and he’s … what, exactly? Before you answer, note that he’s been described as evil incarnate for appealing his positive PED test last year.
It’s almost like people are going to call these guys names no matter what they do. And sure, maybe they deserve some name-calling since they are rule-breakers. But let us not pretend that you weren’t gonna call them names before they chose what they were going to do with their appeal, OK?
