Kevin Millar, ambassador of baseball. And KFC.

You hear a lot about clubhouse cancers these days, what with Manny Ramirez killing and taking the souls of every team member he’s ever encountered, and Gary Sheffield slaughtering an infant for every one of the 499 home runs he’s hit. But fear not, citizens, there is a cure, and that cure lies in the heart of Kevin Millar.

MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez makes the case for Millar’s presence on any team, despite his woeful 87 OPS+ last year:

Millar is more than just a carefree guy.

“Even though [Millar] has that reputation, when the lights come on and it comes to getting ready to play — even though he’s relaxed — he’s going to give you what he’s got,” [Aaron] Hill said. “[He's a] great guy to have in your clubhouse, [a] great guy to have when you’re winning and losing, and he’s just got a good attitude.”

Pretty much everyone in Major League Baseball loves this guy, and he’s routinely cited, for better or worse, as part of the winning chemistry that brought a World Series ring to the Red Sox in 2004.

But what is America without dissent, this time coming from the thorn in Tony LaRussa’s side Scott Rolen. “[He's] overweight,” he told Gonzalez, “[has] limited ability [and is a] dead-pull hitter. [He's] lucky to have a job.”

I wonder how lucky he really is. Looking at Millar’s stats, his OPS+ lifetime is 112, despite his bad year last year. Rolen’s, however, is 125, though he’s played a full season in two of the past five years. Both of them have pretty great careers behind them, but at least Millar isn’t a dick.

Source.

Joe Blancato alden gonzalez, blue jays, kevil millar, mlb.com, scott rolen