FanPost

Why the Rangers reaction to CJ Gate was smart.

At first glance, the reaction to C.J. Wilson's comments on LSB seems like an overblown, tight-@$$ response to a remark that probably wasn't as inflammatory as some would have us believe.

A closer look is taken here with regard to labor unions, organizational behavior, and team dynamics.

C.J. Wilson is a member of what is perhaps the most powerful labor union in the United States - the Major League Baseball Players Association.  In case you missed it, he said in an ESPN Page 2 column that there was a general lack of education among baseball players - all of whom belong to the MLBPA and compose its chief member group.

Wilson is not just a member of the union, he is (was?) also the Rangers team representative; ergo, he is an agent representing the Rangers players.  A person with that kind of responsibility absolutely must be careful of what he says in public.  When he speaks about baseball and baseball players, it is known that he has been chosen to be the voice of an entire team.  From this perspective, one would have been shocked if the team had taken no action.

The initial Rangers reaction was most likely to the comments in the Page 2 article.  Less than 24 hours later, though, Wilson's average baseball player went from being uneducated to being a rich, uneducated douche bag.  In a non-baseball organization, Wilson would have been subject to disciplinary action including suspension and possibly termination.  By comparison, asking Wilson to stop posting at LSB is a very small, almost insignificant, action to have taken - especially when consideration is given to his continued presence on MLBlogs and MySpace.

From the perspective of the Rangers organization, Wilson is one of their most engaging and energetic personalities.  Wilson has leveraged the internet as a way to reach out to fans on a more personal level to help market the Rangers and the game of baseball.  His interaction with the fan community amplifies both his status as a role model and the things he says.  Read by thousands, including hundreds of kids that look up to him, Wilson would occasionally pepper his comments and posts with language that didn't measure up to that role model status - including the "douche bag" remark.

In this capacity, Wilson was not representing the Rangers, but he was representing himself as a Ranger.  According to Evan Grant, GM Jon Daniels has spoken with C.J. in the past about his blogging, using good judgment, and keeping in mind what's appropriate and what's not.  This indicates that the Rangers were already wary of Wilson's activities and were ready to step in if they believed things were going to turn bad.  As an organization, you can't have one of your most marketable players continuing to walk out on limbs.  Eventually, one of them will break.

In this case, the limb bent and maybe cracked a little bit; I don't truly believe that any player (Ranger or otherwise) was personally offended by anything C.J. said on the matter.  If things had continued, it could have become an extremely polarizing subject in the Rangers clubhouse.  For the team dynamic, it was important to nip this in the bud.

In the end, I imagine that this was a move by the players and not the front office.  To me, it seems like something that affects the players more than it does the organization as a whole.

I do not view this as a rebelious act, though it may be tinged with a little bit of civil disobedience.  There is no question that Wilson should have shown better judgment, but I don't really fault him for slipping up.  Mistakes happen.

For those who feel like they've had an injustice perpetrated upon them, are you serious?  Open up a new browser tab/window.  Type in "http://cjwilson.mlblogs.com" or "http://www.myspace.com/blueglovelefty".  Click "Go" (or the little green arrow), and grow up.