I found this to be interesting, especially in light of Wily Mo Pena's recent comments.
Weight matters because it's the reason Acevedo is with the Rockies and not the Reds, for whom Acevedo pitched 2001-2004. Saying he wasn't in shape, Cincinnnati sent him to the Minors at the end of Spring Training. But the Rockies, who obtained Acevedo for right-handed reliever Allan Simpson on April 9, have yet to mention what the scales say about Acevedo, who might or might not weigh more than his listed 221 pounds.[...]
"Everybody knows I'm Dominican, and Dominicans work their [rear ends] off all the time," Acevedo said. "We are that type of people, we hustle. Especially when we are here, we hustle more because we try to be consistent in this type of game.
"I'll continue to prove it, because I'm a professional. It's the way I make my living for my family. It was such disrespect for me, what they said."
[...]
Acevedo, 27, is happy now after an angry period that when he struggled to a 0-1 record and 11.70 ERA in Spring Training with the Reds. Acevedo said he pitched better late in camp and didn't deserve to be sent down, but the Reds disagreed.
"Scales don't lie," Reds general manager Dan O'Brien said at the time. "This is not meant as a criticism, but it's a fact that he was not as prepared coming into camp as some of his competitors. Frankly, some others beat him out for the job."
Acevedo said after arriving with the Rockies, he was told that someone from the Reds, he's not sure who, told the Rockies he was a "lazy worker, keep an eye on him." However the Reds' assessment was meant, Acevedo took it as an insult.
It would be easy to shrug off any of these stories if they were singular in nature. But you put all of them together and it tends to point to a very ugly front office.
I could care less if a player weighs 800 pounds, as long as he's producing. There was some evidence that Acevedo would have made a decent reliever, but the Reds made a decision to cut bait solely on supposed attitude issues and weight. In retrospect it looks like a terrible decision, as the Reds have had a historically bad pitching staff.
Winning ballclubs don't make decisions based on intangibles. Losing ballclubs do all the time. Dan O'Brien looks to me like a loser.
(Via)