Comments on: Cleared of murder charges, Angel Villalona added to Giants’ to 40-man roster

By: clarknaddison

clarknaddison — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 19:12:50 +0000

awesome….typical americans. Lets let all these murders cross the boarder…

By: brewcrewfan54

brewcrewfan54 — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 19:10:43 +0000

Gator I generally find your posts intelligent and sometimes pretty damn funny. Gonna have to go ahead and just not agree with tou at all in this case. OJ wasnt a jerk at all before his murder case. At least he wasntknown as one to the masses. He was in movies,national ad campaigns and covered the NFL. People only disassociated themselves from him after he was found not guilty. And just because someone is found notguilty doesnt mean they arent a murderer. But Imnot going to argue semantics and word play about this. You dont settle a murder case with money of you are innocent of the crime.

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 13:35:47 +0000

I dunno. I would think it should err on the side of justice.

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 05:14:34 +0000

OJ got off because the lead detective in his case admitted to having planted evidence. If I'm sitting on that jury, I vote to acquit too. People avoid OJ, if they do, because aside from the issue of whether he murdered his wife and her boyfriend, he was a violent, unstable asshole who ripped people off made their skin crawl on general principle. But there were also plenty of folks who flocked to associate with him merely because he was a celebrity - and even because he was a killer (ever heard of the Kray brothers?) even after the trial. And you're just the flip side of such people. You keep calling this guy a murderer when the charges against him were dismissed. He was not convicted. The charges against him were dismissed. Period. End of story. If you want to have anything like a functioning civilization, you need to respect due process - and that means you don't continue to persecute people who have been exonerated.

By: randygnyc

randygnyc — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 01:59:37 +0000

Either you are guilty of murder, or you’re innocent. If there’s ANY gray area at all, professional sports organizations should ALWAYS and UNEQUIVICALLY err on the side of disassociation.

By: brewcrewfan54

brewcrewfan54 — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 22:21:39 +0000

The judge didnt see it my way either os true but I also dont always 3rd world country’s judicial systems that I dont know much about. The was I read this story it basically says they would dismiss the charges as long as he pays them money. OJ Simpson most likely killed his ex-wife and novody wanted to go near him again. This guy seems to probably have killed someone and they want to give him a contract.

By: brewcrewfan54

brewcrewfan54 — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 22:14:48 +0000

I dont look up to athlete’s either and basically agree that a guy can help the team I root for sign him up regardless of some of his past transfressions. Sometimes though you gotta draw a line. I think killing someone might be that line.

By: rhandome

rhandome — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 21:27:54 +0000

I’m a Giants fan and I couldn’t care less about this dude’s alleged crime, as long as he wasn’t convicted. But then, I don’t look up to athletes for anything other than being awesome at their sport. If I was a Steeler fan I’d root for Big Ben; I’d root for Kobe on the Lakers or Drew Brees (defended torture at Guantanamo Bay) on the Saints, etc. But if you look to sports figures for moral inspiration, more power to you.

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 21:14:38 +0000

“The fact that there was a settlement between him and the victims family leads me to believe that he’s guilty.”

Apparently the judge didn’t see it your way either.

And a settlement might just as easily – if not more easily, these days – mean that you recognize paying off a would-be plaintiff in a civil action can be a lot cheaper than “clearing your name” in a protracted legal battle, especially when the charges against you have been dismissed anyway.

By: brewcrewfan54

brewcrewfan54 — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 20:44:58 +0000

Yeah the Giants do see it differently. They basically don’t mind employing a murderer as long as he can hit a ball also.

By: JBerardi

JBerardi — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 19:52:27 +0000

“The fact that there was a settlement between him and the victims family leads me to believe that he’s guilty.”

Good for you. Obviously the Giants see it differently.

By: JBerardi

JBerardi — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 19:50:54 +0000

I don’t get it. If he’s taken in the rule five he has to stick on that team’s 25 man roster or he gets sent back to the Giants. Considering that his ability to hack it in the minors is in doubt at this point, it’s nearly unimaginable that he could stick on a major league roster. Very strange move.

By: brewcrewfan54

brewcrewfan54 — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 18:48:26 +0000

How does this get thumbs downs? The fact that there was a settlement between him and the victims family leads me to believe that he’s guilty. I’m not generally a prude or the P.C police but these are the kind of guys you cut loose and let someone else give him his second chance. Yeah the Giants lost some money but they should be used to that after the Barry Zito contract.

By: bigleagues

bigleagues — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 17:46:04 +0000

I am considering the possibility that the Giants included a promise that he’d be placed on the 40-man roster as part of the settlement.

I know Bobby Evans, this almost certainly wasn’t solely his call to make. Evans is a very nice guy (might even be the Giants next GM), believes in redemption and second chances, but you have to be accountable.

Whatever might be in that settlement, I’m sure the Giants view Villalona as a long term investment at this point and want to extract some value, and doesn’t want to risk losing him in the Rule V Draft; thus his placement on the 40-Man.

By: Kyle

Kyle — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 17:12:54 +0000

“…an ugly 235/42 K/BB ratio over his first three professional seasons.” Holy S, “ugly” may be an understatement. Although, it may help is stock in the Giants org. seeing as they hate walks.

By: brewcrewfan54

brewcrewfan54 — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 16:35:08 +0000

Yet another example of how in sports character doesn’t matter to anyone, just performance.

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 16:03:27 +0000

They make you wear catcher’s gear to your trial in the Dominican? Why isn’t Amnesty International all over this?