Rangers decline to offer Greer salary arbitration and release him

[Max Power]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...ede.2f1b8.html

Greer will be remembered for hustle, humility
06:01 AM CST on Thursday, December 9, 2004
By EVAN GRANT / The Dallas Morning News

Former Rangers general manager Doug Melvin sifted through the signature swan dives and the patented clutch hits from Rusty Greer's decade with the club and what came to mind as a lasting image was neither the dives nor the hits.

It was in the winter of 1996 when the Rangers were recruiting New York Yankees closer John Wetteland to be the final piece of what they hoped was a World Series team. On his visit to Texas, Wetteland toured the Rangers' clubhouse, where Greer was working out.

"You," Wetteland beamed, "are one of my favorite players. You are the kind of guy I want to play with."

That, perhaps more than anything, summed up Greer. He was the kind of player even opponents could love.

"I just remember how much it seemed to mean to John that Rusty played the game the right way," Melvin said. "I think that helped us sign John. I think it helped us sign other players, too. He was humble. He played the right way. You always knew you were going to get 100 percent of his effort."

But Greer was more than that. Thurman Clyde Greer had the nickname fans could love. His humility and practicality endeared him as much to fans as did his all-out hustle and talent. Greer twice took less-than-market-value contracts simply to stick with the Rangers and provide his family with security rather than lavish excess. Once shy and guarded, he became one of the Rangers' best ambassadors, perhaps ranking second only to Jim Sundberg in long-term community involvement.


One more try?

After 11 seasons as one of the most popular and productive players in club history, Greer's time with the Rangers officially ended Tuesday night in an ignominious fashion. After trying to come back from 2 ½ years on the disabled list, recovering from myriad surgeries – the co-pay for his career-long willingness to sacrifice his body to make dazzling plays – the club declined to offer him salary arbitration. He is a free agent and can't sign a major league contract with the Rangers before May 1.

The Rangers are instead pursuing free agent DH candidates who would require a guaranteed contract. Because of that, Greer, who turns 36 in January, couldn't win the DH job in spring training. He is contemplating signing with Minnesota, Tampa Bay or Kansas City. Or he may retire. The Rangers have offered him a front office position if he retires.

Neither choice is terribly palatable. Greer would like to prove he's healthy and productive. And he'd like to do both with the Rangers.

But he's always been more of a realist than an idealist.

"I really grew to like that the back of my baseball card had one team on it," Greer said. "If I play somewhere else, the card will be tainted. But if I plan on resuming my career, I have no choice.

"There's no way for me to be bitter about that, not after all the Rangers have done for me and my family. It would be a great storybook finish to go out there and play well here. But there are players out there who are younger and stronger and can do the job better than me. If I don't play again; it's OK. I'll know it's time to move on."

For Greer to play again – regardless of location – would be a storybook finish. A 10th-round draft choice out of Montevallo College in Alabama, Greer looked at times more like the kind of player used to fill out a minor league system than a future .300 hitter.


Unlikely start

He spent parts of three seasons at Double-A Tulsa before moving up to Triple-A Oklahoma City in 1993. In May 1994 he got called up when Gary Redus pulled a hamstring. He proceeded to go 3-for-5 with a homer and three RBIs in his first major league game. He never returned to the minors. From July 1996 through his most recent major league game on July 11, 2002, Greer's average has remained above .300.

He also authored some of the biggest hits in Rangers' history with 17 game-winning hits in the club's final at-bat between 1995 and 2000. Those included nine walk-off hits; four of them were homers.

And there were his catches. Greer dived all over the field to make them, often jarring his body in the process. The most memorable of those: A stab of Rex Hudler's line drive that started the ninth inning on July 28, 1994. It preserved Kenny Rogers' perfect game.

"It's a rare talent to be able to do what he did with those dives," Rogers said. "Rusty wasn't the fastest guy on the field, but if there is one guy I want to make a catch for me, it's him. He would dive at any angle for a ball. And he caught them all. People may remember the catch [in the perfect game], but he made a lot of those catches. And that's the way he always played the game."

Said Greer: "If there's one image I'd like for fans to remember of me, it would be of a dirty uniform. Knowing that I was willing to get dirty to do whatever it took to win."

Greer seemed to shake the effects of those catches off, at least initially. In his first five full years, he averaged 146 games per year, but from 2000 on, starting with bone chips in his ankle, it was a constant battle against injuries. He's had eight surgeries since 2000 and played in 113 games in 2001-02.

That may make the image of Greer diving into the gap a little foggy, but it doesn't diminish in the slightest, the impact he's had on teammates and opponents.

"I hope my son grows up to play the game exactly like Rusty Greer does," former Rangers manager Jerry Narron said. "I don't think there's a higher compliment I could pay him."