The Curious Case Of Carlos Delgado

One of the more prominent movies of the new year stars Brad Pitt, and is about an old man who gets younger through the years instead of older. Sort of like what happened to Carlos Delgado right around the All Star break last season. Even before the injuries took their toll on Carlos Delgado, the decline began after the 2005 season when he hit .301 for The Marlins, followed by .265 in '06, .258 in '07 and finally .248 in the first half of 2008. Then something remarkable happened... He started surging in the second half of the 2008 season and hit .303 to put his complete season average at .271. They say it was one of three things or a combination of all of them. 1. He hated playing for Willie Randolph. 2. His agent called him in July and told him he better start hitting if he wanted the Mets to pick up his option. 3. He manned up and started playing through the aches and pains. The real question now is, which Carlos Delgado will show up in 2009? Most players are already in the...