The seasonal transition from winter to spring (training) didn’t come fast enough.
It’s now 3:38 a.m. on a Sunday morning, it’s too cold to fall asleep and to make matters worse, I’m currently homeless.
Sort of.
There’s nothing like a camping trip in a torrential downpour. Without a tent. Next to an oversized mailbox.
My roommate and I are camping out at the apartment complex we’re hoping to live in next year. The complex doesn’t have too many units available, so this stakeout was deemed necessary in order to be homeless for just one weekend as opposed to all of next year.
It’s now 3:44 a.m. on a Sunday morning, my fingers are numb and I have no choice but to let my mind find some sort of a distraction.
As always, baseball has come to my rescue.
I haven’t had too much time to dream about much of anything as of late — I’ve been too busy dealing with my academics getting in the way of my education (i.e. watching and scouting young baseball talents).
It’s now 3:48 a.m. on a Sunday morning, and I finally have time to wish upon baseball’s star once again.
My
brain must be in some kind of malfunctioning state — I think I’m
Aladdin right now. An Aladdin whose only wishes pertain to baseball.
And I’m jacking my roommate’s three wishes — he’s asleep (or frozen) —
so six baseball wishes it is. Here goes nothing:
Wish No. 1: Tulowitzki over Wood — Take Two
In the second story
I ever wrote for Project Prospect — and the first addressing the
prospecting industry — I discussed favoring players with
easy-to-forecast futures over those who are sexy picks with higher
ceilings. Many people favored Brandon Wood over Troy Tulowitzki way
back on Dec. 8, 2006.
Not me.
Tulowitzki
has proven himself a lot more than Wood, nearly tabbing the NL Rookie
of the Year while Wood fell from No. 5 on last year’s Top 100 to No. 23 on this year’s Top 150.
In short, I wish I could make a seemingly outlandish (yet educated)
prediction that makes me look like a genius this year, too.
And to make this wish into a reality, we move onto Wish No. 2.
Wish No. 2: Outlaw Billy Butler Syndrome
Standing 6-foot-1 and weighing in as a robust 240-pounder, Billy Butler wasn't athletic enough or something like that to be a Top-10 selection in the 2004 Draft.
After watching the 21-year-old dominate Triple-A (.291/.410/.542 in 203 at-bats) and mash on through the Majors (.292/.347/.447 in 329 at-bats) last year, it's safe to say that a good chunk of those teams that passed over Butler would like to take a mulligan.
And they blew it.
Standing 5-foot-11 and weighing in as a robust 245-pounder, Travis Snider wasn’t athletic enough or something like that to be a Top-10 selection in the 2006 Draft.
After watching him go .313/.377/.525 with a .375 wOBA in his first year of full season ball in 2007, it’s safe to say that a good chunk of those teams that passed over Snider would like to take a mulligan, too.
Snider went No. 14 overall in ’06 because he wasn’t a physical freak. Billy Butler went No. 14 overall before him in ’04 for similar reasons.
Maybe the third time will be the charm.
Enter Brett Wallace.
Standing 6-foot-1 and weighing in as a robust 245-pounder, Brett Wallace probably isn’t athletic enough or whatever to go high in the first round, either, but that doesn’t matter. What does matter is the Arizona State first baseman went .404/.484/.687 with as many walks as strikeouts (38 of each) in '07.
Wallace
might not be off the board by No. 14 this year, but he should be. This
isn’t to say that he’s the best thing since they invented portable
space heaters (which I had to get rid of a few hours ago — stupid fire
hazard), but the Brett Wallaces of the world don’t need to win any
beauty contests to be legit pro prospects.
Wish No. 3: Live from New York City
This season’s edition of the Midsummer Classic comes from storied Yankee Stadium.
And we want to go.
If you like what you see here at Project Prospect, help us continue growing by shooting us a small donation by hitting the link at the upper righthand corner of the page. We’d like to bring you more and more coverage like what you saw live from the Arizona Fall League at this year’s Futures Game and beyond, so any and all support is greatly appreciated. Many thanks to those of you who sent donations our way following the release of this year's Top 150.
If you happen to be somewhere with better weather than I’m dealing with now, though, please send that first.
Wish No. 4: For Bruce, Rasmus not to stink it up like Delmon, Gordon before them
The lights were shining and the stage was set.
Too bad Delmon Young and Alex Gordon came out from behind the curtain.
Like everyone else under the sun, Project Prospect was singing Young and Gordon’s song by ranking the duo 1-2 in last season’s Top 100.
Like everyone else, we were disappointed.
We did, however, hint that such struggles may occur for Young and Gordon in their rookie campaigns, and discussed just that in a podcast a couple months ago. In Young’s two Triple-A seasons, he slugged .447 and .474 in 2005 and 2006, respectively — there was no reason to expect 30 homers out of the blue. Gordon only had one year (albeit an impressive one) of MiLB experience and was supposed to make a seamless transition to the Majors — expectations were just weren't realistic for these guys.
The lights are shining and the stage is set once again, and this time I’m hoping — and expect to — see something different.
In
this year’s Top 150, two dynamic hitters claim the board’s top two
slots once again in Jay Bruce and Colby Ramsus. Both have all-star
potential and, unlike their ’07 predecessors, will not disappoint once
they land starting gigs. These two — realistically — transition better to The Show.
Wish No. 5: All Jeremy Brown, all the time
When the Sacramento River Cats hired me earlier this month to cover the team for their official website, there was one player that I was more excited to meet than any.
Now I can’t.
Feb. 15 was indeed a dark day, as Moneyball’s poster child Jeremy Brown decided to call it a career.
I don’t know what it was about Brown. He couldn’t really hit, he couldn’t really throw, he couldn’t really do much with his 5-foot-10, (generously-listed) 210-pound frame — except walk — but he was one of my favorite players for some reason.
So here’s my modest proposal: the A’s shouldn’t file Brown’s retirement papers, should make him their starting Major League catcher and should sign at least seven other position players just like him — i.e. borderline useless without those walks — for their 2008 starting lineup. I mean, this team is going to be really, really bad anyway — I’d at least like to laugh while I’m watching them if nothing else.
And
nothing sounds funnier — even when you’re a Popsicle with feet out in
the rain at 4:41 a.m. — than the thought of eight Jeremy Browns roaming
the field all at once.
Wish No. 6: A World Series Championship (…in 2011)
I want the A’s to win the World Series — in 2011. I want to see Jeremy Browns all over the place until then, but when the Fremont A’s hit the field for the first time at Cisco Field in 2011, I’m expecting a World Series title.
Members of the A's faithful are living the prospecting dream. By trading away a mediocre present, the A's are building up the kind of exciting, youthful team that prospect junkies live for.
But until 2011 arrives, I wait.
It’s now 4:54 a.m. on a Sunday morning, still raining and I’m still without an apartment.
Adam Loberstein can be reached at aloberstein@projectprospect.com. He apologizes if this column is wet.