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2007 Sandy Alomar never quite lived up to expectations, but he trudged on quietly and honorably, not being too proud to adjust to life as a role player. That role is becoming ever more limited with what`s left of the 40-year-old Alomar`s power fizzing away. Toby Hall takes his place as the Sox`s backup catcher. 2005 Perhaps not the easy winner for Most Overrated Player of his generation, not when he has people like Joe Carter to compete with, but Alomar's on the list. He's settled into scoring paydays through backup work. One obvious value-add: Bilingual catchers are handy, especially when the pitching coach doesn't speak Spanish. Otherwise, he's used up: His knees won't let him play often enough to play everyday for a couple of weeks if the starter were hurt, and his bat's gone. Signed with Texas, ostensibly to give Gerald Laird a bit more seasoning in Triple-A. 2003 The Rocks can’t afford to be paying for the little things that don’t show up in the box scores. They lost in clusters, with nine losing streaks of at least four games. They were 33–56 in games following a loss. They got blown out once every five road games, and in those games they averaged two runs, scoring one or none eight times. They need run producers, not the “veteran leadership” Kenny Williams finds so irresistible. Alomar will once again bring his slowing bat and glacial receiving skills to the White Sox for the inspirational value of watching a once-good player play out the string. 2002 Alomar was neither very good nor very healthy, and he was therefore the symbol for everything the White Sox did wrong in the winter following their 2000 division title. Signing him to a two-year, $5.4-million contract was a waste of money. For the six or seven weeks he's healthy in 2002, he'll make a decent backup for Mark Johnson. 2001 America loves Kennedys and Bushes beyond all common sense. Ozzie Guillen was rarely judged on his abilities but accepted because he happened to be named Ozzie. Maybe we’re just too lazy to evaluate people for what they do, and not for what somebody with the same name did. Sandy Alomar has been an All-Star five times and is the recipient of awards and acclaim, but what you’ve really got is Rick Cerone under an assumed name. He’s hit 20 home runs once. He might be a nice guy, but his knees are shot. Replacing him in Cleveland was overdue. The Sox signing him was a bonus for the Tribe. 2000 While we’re all convinced that medicine can fix anything these days, Sandy may finally be reaching the point where nothing can be done for his knees. Repeated hyalgan lubricant injections and painkillers didn’t help. He tried to change his throwing mechanics, but he still couldn’t help the Indians behind the plate. By season’s end, he was talking about experimental cartilage regrowth. The hope for a World Series ring may keep him out there, but retirement isn’t far off. 1998 It’s about time. Alomar finally had a season worthy of his inflated reputation, while guaranteeing the inflation would continue through the end of the millennium thanks to his inspired performances before national audiences. He’ll likely return to earth in ‘98, although his relative lack of playing time earlier in his career due to injuries makes him a decent possibility for a career longer than the norm for catchers. 1997 Not many players get to boast of having been one of the worst fan selections to the All-Star Game and one of the worst managerial selections to boot. Alomar’s career has wound up being mostly reflected glory from his brother Roberto. The point where you might have claimed he was one of the AL’s great catchers never came. Instead, you have one of the best GIDP men in baseball today, who just enjoyed his second healthy season of his career. Probably the most overrated player to never wear a Dodgers’ or Mets’ uniform. 1996 As always, Alomar's problem is staying healthy: knee injuries cost him the first two months of the season. Often cited as a player who hasn't lived up to his minor league reputation, his career has actually been a great match for his minor league performance: his full minor league numbers since 1988 show a .254 EQA on .274/.320/.402 hitting, while his major league career shows a .254 EQA on .283/.316/.403 hitting. You simply can't get much closer than that.
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