Trot Nixon was the first round draft choice of the Boston Red Sox in the 1993 draft. After some good years with the Red Sox and a World Series Championship, his stock went down hill in recent years and in a tryout for the Brewers was batting only .104 after twenty games.
The cut was made harder by the fact that Ken Macha and Nixon have been friends since Macha had Nixon in the Boston farm system. But it was clear from the results that Nixon did not have much to offer the Brewers.
Nixon, of course, was fairly famous with the Red Sox for his fiery demeanor and the feisty way he got into it with players on other teams. His home run against Roger Clemens, then pitching for the Yankees was particularly memorable. Nixon felt at the time that Clemens had gone after him with some errant pitches and wasn't happy about it. When he hit his homer, his celebration was an "in-your-face" kind of thing.
It seems fair to say that Nixon was a useful player who never really quite lived up to his number one pick. He almost didn't play baseball at all. He was going to NC State as a quarterback after breaking Sonny Jurgenson and Roman Gabriel's high school records in Wilmington, North Carolina. But he signed with the Red Sox instead. It took him six years to crack the Red Sox starting lineup (which seems like a long time for a first rounder). But when he did, he had three particularly successful seasons from 2001 to 2003.
His stats plummeted after 2003, which in these current days is a bit suspicious. In either case, he ended up signing with Cleveland, had a lackluster year there and then played poorly in a short stint with the Mets last year before missing the rest of the season on the disabled list.
It seems unlikely that another team will take a flyer on him this late in the game. But stranger things have happened.
In another transaction wire story, Ben Broussard was sent down to the minors today. It doesn't seem that long ago when he was an up and coming player for the Indians. He has really sunk in status since he was traded to Seattle in 2006 and has bounced around in several organizations.
1 comment:
"His stats plummeted after 2003, which in these current days is a bit suspicious."
Took the words right out of my mouth.
I always thought Broussard would make it. Reminds me a little of Brad Wilkerson.
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