Josh Hamilton is baseball's version of Michael Vick

Published Monday, Dec 17, 2012 at 2:10 pm EST Last updated 4 hours and 24 minutes ago

The Los Angeles Angels should hope that they get more out of the nine-figure contract they signed with Josh Hamilton than the Philadelphia Eagles got out of the nine-figure contract they signed with Michael Vick.

Which is not a putdown of Michael Vick.

He didn?t sneak through an unlocked window in the middle of the night and help himself to a potential $100 million contract while they weren?t looking. The Eagles knew the risk of doing it. They gambled on the reward.

They lost. Or at least it seems they have, unless they go against all expectations and speculation and keep Vick around after this season, leaving the keys to the franchise in his hands for a third season.

Vick didn?t deliver. He didn?t play well enough, he got hurt a lot, he was surrounded by overpaid and underachieving talent and a coaching staff that seemed to have lost track of what it was doing, and he suddenly looked to be on the downside of his career at age 32.

He wasn?t worth the investment.

On the other hand, the biggest, scariest risk never manifested itself ? the one that kept him out of the NFL for two years, in federal prison for 18 months, and on the public-enemy list seemingly infinitely.

Welcome, then, to the Angels? gamble with Hamilton?their five-year, $125-million gamble.

The trials of Hamilton?s life and career are at least as well-known as Vick?s. When news of exactly how much Hamilton signed for last week came out, jaws hit the floor just as hard as they did when the Eagles tethered themselves to Vick two summers ago.

One big difference between them, it must be pointed out: Hamilton?s deal is fully guaranteed. NFL contracts being what they are, if or when the Eagles let him go just two years into his, Vick will end up getting paid around half of the announced $100 million.

That?s not a small difference. It?s a major bump up in the risk the Angels are taking with Hamilton.

If they get the maximum reward for it from Hamilton, though?the one the Eagles had hoped they?d get from Vick?it will be worth it, and more.

Everybody has seen the best-case scenario already, lots of times, particularly in his MVP season, and in electrifying fashion last May during an epic batting rampage.

Yet, when the Angels ponied up, they did so with hopeful eyes, gritted teeth and a set of cushions to catch them all, just in case. That includes hiring his ?accountability partner? from the Rangers, Shayne Kelley ? to help him deal with the challenges of staying on the straight path, and to help the franchise and the star player remain as one.

Most of the time that worked for the Rangers, with Kelley and his predecessor, longtime Hamilton confidant Johnny Narron. It sure worked in 2010, the MVP season in which the Rangers won their first pennant. Afterward, redemption was tangible throughout the Rangers? clubhouse.

It didn?t work all the time. There were relapses. There were clubhouse conflicts and tensions. There was the ugly team-wide collapse at the end of this season, during which Hamilton was a no-show in many ways.

It wasn?t a step-by-step parallel implosion to match the one the Eagles went through this year. One departure is that for all of Vick?s on-field faults this year, whether his own fault or out of his control, the old demons that did him in and sent him to jail never resurfaced ? and whatever life counsel he took while re-entering the NFL seemed to stick.

But in the end, the Rangers figured, at least in part, that they?d risked enough, and weren?t ready to risk anything else. The trust the Angels are putting in Hamilton?not unlike the trust the Eagles once put in Vick?was not what the Rangers wanted to put in him anymore.

You can?t blame the Angels for leaping in. And you can?t blame the Rangers for backing out.

Now the Angels can see where the sky might be the limit. But they also see very real limits. Put aside the off-field potential struggles. Hamilton is a year younger than Vick and turns 32 early next season. Like Vick, he isn?t tentative on the field. Playing hard, with disregard for personal safety and borderline reckless, are what make both who they are. It also kept Hamilton from playing as many as 150 games in four of his five seasons in Texas.

He?s not a kid anymore. Life and the game have taken their toll. He?s locked in for five years, and the Angels are about winning now.

In two years, the Angels might be grinning, drenched in champagne and shouting that $125 million for Josh Hamilton was the theft of the century.

Or they could be smacking their foreheads, scowling at that contract and saying, ?We rolled the dice and crapped out.?

On the opposite coast, in Philadelphia, an NFL team will be feeling their pain.

Source: http://aol.sportingnews.com/mlb/story/2012-12-17/josh-hamilton-angels-free-agency-michael-vick

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