I've heard now that Josh claims that it would have been easier for him to stay in Texas, more comfortable, and that he is happy that he is going to be able to touch so many more people in LA.

WHAT A JOKE!

The truth is that Josh is running from his demons with his tail between his legs!

What would have been comfortable about staying here and facing his failures of last year?

What would have been comfortable about making himself accountable to a fan base who supported him only to receive a pathetic performance in return both on and off the field in his last year?

What would have been comfortable about apologizing to the fans that he has insulted by saying DFW is a town that has denied Christ, that he must shake the dust off of his feet in testimony against us?

What would have been comfortable about coming back here and holding yourself accountable?

Nothing. It would have been a difficult, uncomfortable, pride-swallowing thing to do.

By avoiding the writing on the wall the Hamiltons drive themselves further into denial!

They pretend that God is leading them to LA so that they can touch more lives with their touching story!

What about all of the people you just insulted with your pathetic lack of accountability?!

What about all the people you have shaken the dust off of your feet in testimony against?!

What about all of those people who supported you through your relapses and your lack of effort (whether intentional or not)?

What about all of those people you touched Josh and Katie. You didn't touch those people with Christ, you touched them with your weaknesses, weaknesses that you ignored, problems that you failed to face, apologies that you failed to voice.

Its easy to use religion as a mask for your true selfishness. I'm not going to sit here and say Josh and Katie are not true Christians because we all have weaknesses, but in this instance they are entertaining some major denial about their true selves.

My prayers go out to them and their family because it is your family, your kids, that suffer the most from your selfishness and denial. Hold yourselves accountable or at least stop using God as a tool to run from who you really are.

Very true Joe

I would bet we all struggle with selfishness.

I think Hamilton will put Texas in his rear view mirror, and if the Angels get it done even once, well...

I love you joe. My thoughts EXACTLY

Jed Hambiltone? Hmm, don't recall. Time to move forward

Ohhhhh, Humbletone!!! No, still can't see it. Nevrmind...

Good post Joe. Josh is getting rewarded for his 2 seasons when we went to the WS. His last year was not good, he had a chance to be a megastar with the way he started the season, but soon the pitchers started throwing him breaking pitches away and he struggled worse than anything I've seen in a while. No plate discipline at all. He should not have been in the line up. Josh uses the Christian card way too much for his misgivings, I am with you there.

Not to mention the Angels were the only team that made him a firm offer. Delusional to try and spin that into God's will. The Hamiltons were terrified that no one would make a decent offer, so they jumped at their one chance.

Time to move on. Whatever Josh's rationalizations or points of view may be, he did what 95% of all FAs do, he took the best offer. It is understandable he felt slighted . Whatever JD may have said in the press, it was clear Josh was a low priority. Despite his personal flaws, he is a hell of a talent who has overcome extreme adversity. I hope he stays well and healthy.

He took the biggest pay day he could get and he and his wife used their faith as a reason to go to LA. Its funny how it feels like God is calling you when their is $125 million waiting for you. I don't care that Josh left. What bothers me is when you start making claims that God was pulling you in this direction. Trying to act righteous while ur signing a $25 million check is horse shit. Dont use God as an excuse for chasing the money.

Whatever. Hamilton is like a lot of churchgoers. Uses faith to justify being a good person. Uses faith to justify about anything, even if the logic is much simpler.

In this case, it was just money. It wasn't god.

I'm over it. I didn't want him back anyway.

Going to church makes one a Christian as much as standing in a garage makes one a car. Hamilton took the money and ran, and I'm glad the Rangers didn't over spend chasing him. In other news, water is wet.

Back in 2010 Josh was coming off his MVP season and started working on this last deal with the Rangers. I remember he told the DFW media, he owed it to the MLB Players Union as MVP to go for the biggest contract he could get. He got ripped for not being a team player by the media for a couple weeks and then once things died down, he agreed to the fairly reasonable $23 million deal (it covered his last 2 years of arb.).

That struck me as a very weird approach to negotiating, so the way he approached this doesn't surprise me at all. I wish him the best of luck and hopes he gets a golden sombrero every time he comes to Arlington.

Good post, Joe.

Josh is such a lightning rod. I'm not sure there's ever been a player like him before, or that there will be again. We'll miss Josh the player, but not Josh the baggage.

Hey Joe,

Remember this little ditty from July?

Hamilton Reality Check

Interesting stuff...

Hamilton is exhibiting all of the signs of an immature Christian in my opinion. One that is possibly being swayed by some of the prosperity gospel message that is out there, too. This really bothers me because he will be one of the Christians that people point to as an example of hypocritical behavior and language rather than looking at the Christians who did make the hard decisions that make their lives uncomfortable because they believe God is calling them there.

Remember Glen Coffee - 49ers running back that walked away from the NFL because he believed he was called to full time ministry. Now that is a guy that made the hard decision. I'm not saying that God doesn't call certain Christians into or direct some Christians into paths that lead to prosperity, but this seems like a case of the Hamiltons exhibiting classic Christian immaturity.

The hard route would have been to tell the Rangers (or the Angels or the Brewers - wherever the Hamiltons truly believed they were called to go) that they felt God was calling them to be there and that as long as the union approved of the contract, the Hamiltons would sign whatever offer was laid before them. That - or some type of gesture like that - would have been a show of maturity and trust in the Lord. Or simply saying, we believe God can use us anywhere. The Angels offered the most money and we're going to take that and use it to support our family, our church and spread the Gospel message.

As it played out, sadly, is the reason why many Christians and Christianity itself is lambasted by much of our country.

Well said ChiTown.

Caleb,

Your point? If you want to make a point make a point buddy and let me respond. I still think many in the media especially (of course nothing like he will experience in LA) were unfair to Josh based on his religiosity. That doesn't mean that Josh's religiosity is 100 percent genuine. Everyone is a hypocrite to some degree. I just think Josh is more hypocritical than I used to.

Joe,

Fair enough.

The most funny people to me, the way I see things, are those that do a heavy amount of drugs before claiming they are "straight edge," or those that become born again Christians. It's all a copout.

Whether we are religious or not, it's extremely annoying to hear about god through the media. Someone hits a game winning home run, "I have to thank god for putting me in this position." Someone score a game-winning touchdown, "First of all I just need to thank god."

No.

I want to see someone do those things and come out and be like, "Yo, I just wanna say it was me who worked hard to put myself in the position I'm in today."

Because, really, that's the truth.

bro, are you an atheist?

@ Eric That's a shitty thing to say! Leave America if you don't like the fact we are a secular nation. Athletes have the RIGHT of freedom of speech and religion. God has everything to do with it! "You trying to tell me Jesus Christ can't hit a curve ball?"

Oh I get it, because I don't always agree with the traditionalist establishment, that means I should leave the country. Good one. George Bush said the same thing to Americans who didn't agree with America going to war. That worked out well, eh?

I've no problem accepting that this is the way some athletes, no, some people, are. This is how things have been since before I was alive, now that I'm alive, and it's how it will go well after I'm dead. Whether that's tomorrow or a hundred years from now, it doesn't matter.

However, there's this perception that it makes one a "good" person if they believe in the lord, and that they are somehow a "bad" person if they don't. I don't agree with that. If it's okay to say "Thank god for what I just did," then it should also be socially acceptable for one to say that "This was all me."

As far as me being an atheist is concerned, no, I don't consider myself to be one of those. If anything, I'm closer to a nihilist. Labeling myself as such would be inaccurate, though, because nihilists don't believe in anything. Labels aren't my thing. I guess you could just consider me a free agent as far as all this shit is concerned. I'm open to whatever comes in my direction, as long as it's real.

I'm a Christian, but, as I see it, JH is a religious punk. He is all holy when it suits him but is a selfish jerk like the rest of us most of the time. Religion at its worst. Better than being an atheist, but still just religion. Easy to praise God when you get a 25mil contract. Try to do it when you fall on your ass.

@ChiTown
When I have heard josh say certain things pertaining to his faith in the past that is exactly what I've thought of him. Mostly during his obvious misuse of certain verses and their meanings in order to somehow justify what is going on with him at the moment. This most recent episode and his "shake the dust off your feet" comment is a perfect example having nothing to with what he's trying to justify to himself and others. It really shows how little knowledge he has of his own faith and really just makes it seem like a crutch instead. Frankly he does more damage than he realizes by saying these things. All I can do is shake my head in disgust.