Josh Sale (Rays) This suspension stings

Doesn't seem like the kind of person a team wants in the club house. I'm sure he will clean up his act and be given another chance somewhere. 

(Better quality tats than the other Josh)

Good for the Rays. Organizations don't like to be embarrassed by young players. He brought negative attention to them by testing positive for drugs then  brings more negative attention posting on FB.

I hope that the suspension remains indefinite and they refuse to release him.  He dosen't deserve anymore chances.

+1 here TPM, glad to see them take a hard stance.  These types of players are given an incredible opportunity and they just flush it away.  Hope they clear his spot for someone else!

This is a player we knew very well in high school.  Believe it or not, he was your typical All American boy!  In fact, he was considered as having great make up.

Wow! What happened to him?

Based on the picture accompanying the deadspin article, he has gone off the rails. 

http://deadspin.com/rays-suspe...ing-change-510339825

Look...he's a young guy, living the dream. He really needs to clean up his act and focus on baseball. Or he will be out of it pretty quick. 

"But don't feel too bad for Sale. He will always have his money, clothes, and hoes."

There is a local in my area that got a BIG pay day out of HS a few years ago, has already had a 50 game suspension....haven't heard much about him lately though....he WAS thought of as a good kid as well.  Tough age to have a good amount of money and the freedom to do as you please.

Typical young dumba$$

He being an idiot is what stings...

+2 Unacceptable behavior. Not only does it make the Rays look bad when he pulls stuff like this, but MLB as a whole. Glad to see them take a hard stance on the subject.

I am wondering the same thing.  Sale is a local kid, who played HS ball with a friend of the family (who is now in the Diamondbacks organization).  He was always (reputedly) the kid who was at the cage at 6 am on an almost daily basis, donated money to replace the weight room at that cage when he signed, etc., etc.  He definitely seems to have fallen to a different path than the one he appeared to be on.

The scary thing as a parent is seeing how easily this can happen to a good kid who is probably immature but is thrown out "into the wild" on his own, with too much money at his disposal (OK, that might be a problem I'd be willing to figure out for my kid). 

I just hope he doesn't figure it out when he's 28 and look up with regret, realizing the opportunity he blew as he sits 3-4 years out of baseball....

Give a young kid a lot of money and free time and you'll find out a lot about his real character.

I have seen this from a few players from our area, all a first round pick then got suspended for using drugs or got in trouble.  All drafted out of HS and lots of money in their pocket. One actually became addicted to heroine.

I think for one of the players I know, the parents stopped parenting or never parented in the first place. They told someone later on that they should have made sure they saw where the money was being spent or given it to someone responsible who would watch over his spending instead of dishing it out, though I heard they used some of the money to buy a vacation home for themselves. And the player had an issue to begin with out of HS but everyone kept it quiet.

Must be one of the reasons why Bryce Harper's folks lived with him when he got drafted or he resided with team GM's, to keep him on task.  People just do not realize the temptations out there, let alone for a young player with lots of money in the bank. 

I really feel this was a big part of Josh Hamilton's problem, his parents fed off of his success and let him do as he pleased.

I know people whose sons got some nice money from being drafted and because of age (different rules for HS dafted players than college) they kept things in check even though their players may have been financially free from their control.  Good for them.

My suggestion would be if your sons get drafted and get any type of decent money, make them put it away and force themselves to live off of their milb pay. When and if  the time comes to leave the game before they get to make any real money , they will be happy that they have a bit of a nest egg to fall back on.

The Rays have had a tough, time with prospects. First Hamilton, then Matt Bush ran over some old guy on his motorcycle. Now Chris Sale.

Got a text this week forwarded from an MLB player about a 2009 HS 1st rounder called up this week;

"He has a tattoo on his underwear line that says "Just Do It", a Nike swoosh on his chest and right after he signed he got a car (Escalade) with his autograph embroidered on the headrests.

"In his first interview after getting called up they asked him how it felt at 2B. He said "It's like a vacation." He later went hitless, made an error an missed three other makeable plays."

It's happened before and will happen again.

Yasmani was drafted out of college!

Dad04,

It's Josh Sale not Chris.

If mine came home with tattos I would figure something was up.  Out of character, not a fan.

PG,

Grandl,  tested positive for steroids.   Sale for use for amphetamines and methamphetimine.  These other two players both for serious drugs, heroine and oxy. This was a while back.

Thank you. The Chris Sale story is amazing for good reasons.

I see a glass of whiskey sitting there in one of the pictures.  The underlying issue here might be alcoholism.  I have no idea what the underlying issue to the alcohol problem might be. 

You take someone who might be unstable to begin with and you start treating them like they are trually something special and these types of problems can occur.  I am sure he was a model citizen before he was drafted.  I think most people if told they were guaranteed to win the lottery if they only behaved themselves for short period could muster up that type of short-term discipline to fool any scout and any organization.

Tampa has had this type of player before in the name of Josh Hamilton.  Hopefully, they can find someone who can communicate with him before it is too late.  He said some knuckleheaded things on facebook but people should not bury him for that.  He needs help.  What he does not need is more adulation and kissing up.  It's time for people, including his parents, to speak frankly with him.  He needs to hear things unvarnished for a change.  Tampa is merely sending him that first, unvarnished message.

Perhaps his dad putting him on a power lifting program at age 8 might have some repercussions. http://rays.scout.com/2/1145062.html

Maybe I am reading more into the story than what is there. I can't help but feel he had to much pressure at home to "succeed" and he did not spend enough time just being a kid when he had a chance.

TPM it hasnt been limited to first round draft picks from our area. We have had a number of draft picks throughout the rounds go down with either ped or substance abuse issues. IMHO this does not happen overnight but is tracable to high school. We would all be shocked at the use of PEDs and substance abuse drugs by players at the high school level. Untill that is gotten under better control we will continue to see this. Seems to me a rash of these incidents has taken place between last year and the start of this one. I think you are on to something as far as parenting goes. Character is what you do when no one is watching not just when the spotlight is on.