Rockies GM supports Ian Desmond's decision to opt out of 2020 MLB season
Colorado Rockies general manager Jeff Bridich seems to be a fairly easygoing person, so when one of his players decided to opt-out of the 2020 Major League Baseball season amid the coronavirus pandemic, he wasn't too upset.
Rockies star Ian Desmond announced that he'd be sitting out the 2020 campaign in a lengthy, emotional Instagram post. The 34-year-old stated his decision stems from wanting to take care of his family amid the pandemic and also focus on racial injustice issues.
Bridich had conversations with Desmond before he made the Instagram post, and the Rockies GM added that Desmond opting out doesn't affect their relationship.
"Ian is extremely thoughtful in what he does, he's thoughtful in how he prepares as a professional athlete, he's thoughtful as a husband and a father ... he's thoughtful about things that are bigger than him," Bridich said, according to ESPN. "And to this point, the reference has been the team or the clubhouse or the locker room, or things that affect the organization, his charity work, passion projects of his outside of the game of baseball.
"He's willing to devote a lot of time and energy and thought to all of the things that he does. And so when you have somebody like that who is a professional athlete who is in the thick of it every day and trying to do the very best that he can to hold up his end of the bargain as an athlete, a teammate, a performer, and then he's always willing to think about other people on the team, in the organization and outside the organization, it's easy to gravitate to people like that."
In his Instagram post, Desmond complained about a lack of diversity in baseball and criticized the clubhouse atmosphere, saying it includes racism, sexism and homophobia. Although he didn't complain specifically about the Rockies clubhouse, Bridich knows his organization could be more diverse.
Desmond isn't wrong about the lack of diversity in MLB, either. In fact, only 7.7% of players in 2019 were African American, according to USA Today. Among the 882 players, that means only 68 were African American.
While Desmond is doing the right thing by nurturing his young children, helping bring Sarasota Youth Baseball back to life and putting an emphasis on the Black Lives Matter movement, he'll be a big loss for the Rockies.
In three seasons with the Rockies, Desmond averaged .252 at the plate with 193 RBIs, 49 home runs and a .714 OPS. As a result of Desmond deciding to opt-out, the Rockies signed Matt Kemp to replace him.
Desmond signed a five-year, $70 million deal with the Rockies in 2017. He's owed $8 million next season and his deal includes a $15 million team option for 2022 with a $2 million buyout.
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