Former Diamondbacks teammates accuse Adam Eaton of being selfish

As part of the deal that sent Mark Trumbo to the Arizona Diamondbacks, outfielder Adam Eaton was traded to the Chicago White Sox. The young outfielder was coming off a season in which he was limited to 66 games by injuries and batted .252/.314/.360.

At age 25 Eaton is still a player with a lot of upside, but he was mostly overlooked in the conversations about the big trade. That changed, however, when former teammates accused him of being “selfish” and “irking” other players in the locker room.

Zach Buchanan of azcentral writes about the following about the situation:

"An anonymous player told Arizona Sports 620 that losing Eaton was ‘addition by subtraction’ and that the 25-year-old was a ‘selfish me-me type player.’ azcentral sports’ Nick Piecoro was told that Eaton ‘irked people in the clubhouse’ and his ‘attitude had a tendency to wear on people.’"

When asked about the comments, Eaton said he was surprised:

"I haven’t heard anything about any of it…I didn’t have any indication. I felt like I left on pretty good terms. I felt like I had a pretty good relationship with most of the guys and the PR department and a lot of the front office people. After the trade they called me and kind of wished me good luck.”"

At 5’8″, Eaton also claimed that he has to be a “little cockier” in order to be successful. Only those who were actually in the locker room actually know if that factored into these comments. One might accuse the Diamondbacks of getting rid of another player because of his “lack of grit” or bad attitude or something, a philosophy they made famous when they traded Justin Upton last year.

That probably doesn’t apply here. But that doesn’t mean the Diamondbacks are clear of criticism.

Alright then.