Wade Miley and Preparation
By Thomas Lynch
Did the D’backs have a problem with Wade Miley’s work ethic? Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
According to an article by Nick Piecoro at azcentral, the Arizona Diamondbacks were giving some grief to recently-traded Wade Miley about his dietary choices. According to Piecoro’s piece, it was the trainers who went perhaps a little too far in insisting that players have a certain type of diet.
"Miley says his diet was something he and the organization “head-butted” about at some point in the year."
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This is how the now former D’back responded to what he felt were slights about his work ethic:
"“I’ve made it through three full seasons. I feel fine. My body feels great. I don’t understand why they’d make such a big emphasis on the health part of it. After a while, they left me alone, he said. But it was always that elephant in the room”"
I don’t believe for a second that Miley was traded because the organization was skeptical of his work ethic. It appears as though that most of the clashing would have been between Miley and the previous regime of Kevin Towers and Kirk Gibson. Would that surprise you, that either one of those gentlemen were the ones that were being nitpicky? I don’t think it was Tony LaRussa who made the observation as he had a lot more things to worry about upon his hiring than whether or not Miley had one too many meals at Taco Bell or Burger King.
Here is one more piece from the article:
"But for weeks leading up to the deal, there were indications the Diamondbacks weren’t happy with something about Miley’s work habits and/or preparation. The team’s concerns swirled through enough baseball circles that they eventually made their way to Miley himself."
If this were true, why would the D’backs be devaluing a player they wanted to move? Perhaps there was some off-handed comment made and then was taken out of context. Otherwise, why would the Red Sox have given up two pitchers of great promise?
Hopefully, there are no hard feelings between the organization and Wade Miley. This seems to be a big misunderstanding between a current regime and a former player.