The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Josh Hamilton

The Josh Hamilton story was shocking, to say the least. It’s left us with a lot to process, a lot to wrap our heads around.

Truthfully, I’m not sure anybody’s figured it out yet. But, even if we don’t know everything, there are some things that we do know.

Most of what we know comes out of Hamilton’s press conference from last Friday, but some has been picked up or confirmed elsewhere. You can read a transcript of the press conference here.

• Hamilton admitted to drinking in a Dallas restaurant/bar last week.

Just a fact. No analysis required.

• Hamilton said that he did not use drugs and has passed two drug tests since the incident.

If he had done drugs, it seems likely that we would have heard about it by now. So far, everything that I’ve read seems to confirm that Hamilton was telling the truth.

• Hamilton’s decisions were a result of a “weak moment” because of “personal reasons with a family member.”

I’ve read a lot of speculation about this. People wonder if his marriage is in trouble or something else is going on. Personally, I don’t think it matters. You might care if you’re a follower of TMZ, but the story isn’t really about Hamilton’s marriage.

• Hamilton said that the alcohol led to things happening that he was “not proud of after [he] drank.”

This is probably the biggest part of the story that has yet to be told. According to rumors, Hamilton was seen entering a bathroom stall with another person. We’ve already been told that no drugs were taken, so most people are jumping to the next logical conclusion.

Supposedly, there is a video that confirms what most people think happened, but it has yet to surface. Until it does, we have to assume that its existence is only a rumor.

• Nobody representing the Rangers was at Hamilton’s press conference.

Jon Daniels was out of town and didn’t even watch the press conference live. Based on what I’ve heard, Nolan Ryan and Hamilton’s teammates were absent as well.

(If anyone knows otherwise, please leave a comment so that I can make a correction.)

• Ian Kinsler was not involved in Hamilton’s decision to drink.

When the incident was first reported, some people jumped to the conclusion that Kinsler was out raging with Hamilton on Monday night.

Since then every report seems to confirm that Kinsler was just hanging out, had no idea that Hamilton had been drinking, and was told by Hamilton that he wasn’t going to go back out after Kinsler dropped him off.

• Hamilton has tabled extension talks for the time being.

Talks about a new contract are on hold until further notice. I have no idea what this means as far as locking him up long-term. That’s probably not the biggest issue at the moment anyway.

That’s what we know, but the story is probably far from being over. There are things we don’t know. There are things we may never know. Almost everyday there are new rumors out there and, for now, all we can do is operate on the facts as they are.

Press on, Rangers fans.

(Leave a comment or find me on Twitter @BleacherSeatsTX. Thanks to Baseball Reference for their invaluable resources.)