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It's called "overplaying your hand."
Sitting here at Nationals Park approaching the All-Star Break, I have to wonder what Jermaine Dye is doing. Dye, who played out his option with the White Sox last year, had few offers last winter. He'd made $11.5 million last year, and wanted something close to that much to play in 2010. The highest rumored offer he received was something north of $3 million - from Washington.
He didn't think that was enough to come to the mid-Atlantic from his home in Arizona, and besides, the Nats were coming off of a 103-loss season. He'd wait for something from a club closer to home.
He's still waiting.
Now, as we've passed the halfway point of the 2010 season, his name is conspicuously absent from the conversation. With 325 career home runs - 27 last year - one would think he could help somebody out. But, at 36, and not having faced live pitching since last fall, the sport obviously feels like Dye's career is over.
According to baseball-reference.com, Dye earned about $75 million over the course of his career, so maybe he's okay with retirement. Still, I have to wonder if he ever looks in the mirror and second-guesses himself. Last October 4 in Detroit Dye struck out against Justin Verlander leading off in the top of the 5th inning. He was replaced in the field after that. Had he known that was his final big league plate appearance, would he have handled himself differently in the off-season?
